Art theft in Somerset prompts £50,000 reward
A £50,000 reward has been offered after paintings were stolen during an aggravated burglary in Somerset.
Sixteen paintings were stolen including Endymion by George Frederick Watts, alone estimated to be worth up to £1m.
Masked intruders got away with the works after forcing their way into a property, near Bruton, in March 2009 and left a woman tied up.
Police said the victim, 47, was found at 1600 GMT the next day with bruising, and "extremely shaken and distressed".
A police spokesman said Apple Blossom by Sir George Clausen, An Italian Peasant Boy by Richard Buckner, A grey pony in a stormy landscape by James Ward and John Anthony Park's St Ives were also taken.
Richard Ellis, director of the Art Management Group, which offers services for people seeking to acquire, conserve, or recover art and antiques, said: "Clausen was a prominent British artist and a member of the [Royal] Academy. Apple Blossom is an oil on canvas which is signed and dated 1899 on the reverse.
"The most high-value painting is the Watts oil on canvas. I would estimate this is worth £800,000 to £1m."
He said the paintings were not saleable on the open market.
"They have all been placed on the Art Loss Register and would be very difficult to shift through dealers. It is conceivable they could have been used as a commodity to exchange for drugs or as collateral for other criminal operations," he added.
The owner of the paintings is offering the reward for the arrest and conviction of the offenders, and the recovery of the artworks undamaged.
-
Update:
-
Detective Inspector Jim Bigger of the Somerset East Public Protection Unit said: "This is a substantial reward, however I do not see this a simple recovery exercise for the paintings, I am focused on the facts that the paintings may lead me to the persons responsible for committing this extremely violent crime, a crime which resulted in my victim being tied up for 18 hours. That is my objective."
No comments:
Post a Comment