Revealed: the five men accused of plot to demand ransom for stolen Da Vinci

THE five men accused of being part of a plot to demand a ransom for a stolen £20 million painting can be pictured for the first time after evidence concluded in the Madonna of the Yarnwinder trial.

As the case moved into its seventh week, the last of the accused said he was embarrassed to be in the dock but insisted he was innocent.

David Boyce, 63, a solicitor, said his arrest had cost him his job and a football club directorship. He told the jury at the High Court in Edinburgh he felt "abused and used" by a co-accused, fellow lawyer, Marshall Ronald, 53.

Boyce said Ronald had been a business acquaintance who went to him with a plan to return the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece (pictured above) to its owner and claim any reward on offer. "As evidence has come out in this trial, things have changed my view of Mr Ronald. He was involved in what I understood was a lawful transaction, but certain aspects of that have now proved to be false," Boyce said.

Closing speeches will begin today and it is hoped the jury will retire to consider its verdicts by the end of the week.

The court has heard the painting was stolen from the Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire in 2003.

In the summer of 2007, two private investigators in Liverpool, Robert Graham, 57, and John Doyle, 61, who also ran an online business called Stolen Stuff Reunited, contacted their solicitor, Ronald, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, to say they had been approached by an intermediary for people holding the painting. The man had said the artwork could be surrendered, but the people holding it wanted 700,000.

Ronald sought advice on Scots law from Boyce, a partner in the Glasgow firm, Boyds, which was on the point of merging with HBJ Gateley Wareing, and a director of Clyde FC. A second partner, Calum Jones, 45, also became involved.

After a meeting in Glasgow, Ronald wrote to a loss adjuster in the case, stating that his firm, Marshalls, wished to "negotiate the safe repatriation of the painting and negotiate the reward/finder's fee on behalf of our clients".

The loss adjuster told the police and an undercover operation, with officers posing as representatives of the Duke of Buccleuch, was started. It ended on 4 October, 2007, when officers raided a meeting in the HBJ Gateley Wareing office in West Regent Street, Glasgow, and recovered the painting.

The Crown alleges that Ronald, Graham, Doyle, Jones and Boyce conspired to extort 4.25 million for the safe return of the painting. It is alleged that, as part of the plot, Ronald had warned that "volatile individuals" were involved with the painting and that they might "do something very silly" if police were alerted.

In his evidence, Boyce said Ronald had been a business acquaintance but "absolutely not" a friend. He received a phone call from Ronald while playing golf on a Saturday afternoon and was told about the painting.

At the later meeting in Glasgow, it had been decided Ronald should contact the loss adjuster to see if there was any reward, which would have needed police approval before being paid, and whether a handover could be done lawfully.

"I always assumed through the whole matter that police approval had been given. I thought the return of a stolen painting was something quite laudable if it could be done lawfully," Boyce said.

The trial continues.