Thursday, February 19, 2009

Stolen Art Watch, Lowry Terror Raid, Miller Guilty !!



Guilty: £1.7m Lowry robber

A MAN has been found guilty of leading a vicious robbery at the home of an art dealer in which Lowry masterpieces worth up to £1.7million were taken.

A jury found Casey Miller guilty after two hours of deliberations at Manchester Crown Court. Miller, 23, of Constable Walk, Denton, had denied robbery.

The Lowry artworks - which included £700,000-valued The Viaduct and Tanker Entering The Tyne, valued at £600,000 - have never been recovered.

Adjourning the case for sentence on March 17, Judge Andrew Gilbart, the Recorder of Manchester, told the defendant: "A substantial prison sentence is inevitable for such a serious offence."

The judge thanked the jury and told them: "I only hope that those wonderful paintings are rediscovered for the benefit of everyone."

Some 14 works of art were stolen from a house in Cheadle by a gang of four robbers armed with a chef's knife.

Miller, posing as a postman, bundled Louise Aird, who was holding her two-year-old daughter Sabrina, to the ground.

Louise's husband, art dealer Ivan Aird, came downstairs, had his hands tied behind his back and was also threatened with the knife before the walls were stripped and paintings and drawings, many of them originals by L S Lowry, were taken away.
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Art Hostage comments:
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Police have until , March 17th to convince Casey Miller to hand back the stolen art for a lesser sentence.
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What can Police offer ?
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Does Casey Miller still have control of the stolen paintings ???

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