Court hears how Duke of Buccleuch was "upset" by painting theft

• The Madonna Of The Yarnwinder painting on display in Edinburgh this year

The painting, The Madonna Of The Yarnwinder, was said to have played a "very special part" in the life of the late Duke of and his family.

His son, the current Duke of Buccleuch, told how the family had to contemplate the possibility that the artwork – valued at 20 million in 2008 – could be destroyed after it was taken from Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries-shire, in August 2003.

Richard Montagu Douglas Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, said it was a "huge relief" to find that the painting was undamaged when it was recovered in 2007.

The 66-year-old Duke was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of five men accused of plotting to extort 4.25 million for the safe return of the picture.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that his father, John, died on September 4 2007, a month before the painting – one of around 20 works of art by Leonardo in existence – was recovered.

The Duke agreed with prosecutor Simon Di Rollo that his father, the ninth Duke, had been "particularly fond" of the painting.

He told the trial: "It had played a very special part in our family life in that both he and his father had often tended to travel with the painting between their various family homes."

He added later: "It was hugely emotionally important for all of us in the family, but I think for my father in particular, who felt most keenly its loss.

"It was clear to anyone who knew him that he was deeply upset by the loss and by the lack of any progress in recovering the painting."

On trial are Marshall Ronald, 53, a solicitor from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, Robert Graham, 57, of Ormskirk, Lancashire, and John Doyle, 61, also of Ormskirk.

Also in the dock are two Scottish solicitors, Calum Jones, 45, from Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, and David Boyce, 63, from Airdrie in Lanarkshire.

They deny the charges against them. They are not accused of the robbery.