Emin artwork forger jailed for 16 months

Controversial artist Tracey Emin was left "hurt and distressed" after a conman sold forgeries of her work for £26,000.

Jonathan Rayfern, 32, made at least 11 fake items said to be by Emin, famous as one of the generation of Young British Artists.

Rayfern, a former art student at Westminster University, even worked alongside Emin at her London gallery, studying how she produced her work "at the master's hand" before producing forgeries sold on eBay to two unsuspecting buyers.

Yesterday, he was jailed for 16 months at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to ten counts of fraud and one count of deception.

Rayfern, of Manchester, who also worked at a Vivienne Westwood shop in the city, was a man "beguiled by art, beauty and celebrity" the court heard, and went on to forge Emin's art to pay off debts to a loan shark.

He claimed Emin was a personal friend on Facebook and boasted of visiting London's Groucho Club with the artist.

Jailing Rayfern, Judge Martin Rudland said: "It is important the integrity and provenance of established and aspiring artists is not undermined by the deliberate forgery of their endeavours."

Emin's most famous works include an embroidered tent, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-95 (1995) and her bed, My Bed (1998).

In a statement to the court, Emin described the items sold by Rayfern as "crude forgeries", adding: "The wording is corny and unimaginative and over sentimental."

Andrew Hill, mitigating, said Rayfern borrowed money from loan sharks and began forging Emin's work to pay them off.