EXCLUSIVE Burglar steals clothes worth £400k from Damien Hirst's studio - while 'failing to spot artwork worth millions'
Nearly £400,000 worth of unique t-shirts, shirts and trousers designed by the renowned artist plus a set of high-tech speakers were looted from the art workshop in west London.
Leslie Gomm, 61, has admitted handling the stolen goods but the burglar, said to be his son, Liam, is still wanted by police, a court heard.
The heist took place between June 27 and 30 in Hirst's sprawling studio in the riverside Thames Wharf building in west London, which overlooks the river between Hammersmith and Putney bridges.
The building has a password-protected secure door but the thief smashed through a window next to a fire exit to get to the second floor gallery, Suleman Hussain, prosecuting, told Westminster Magistrates' Court.
'The premises in question is a workshop; it is not residential,' he said.
'When the victim returned to the property they noted that there were items strewn all over the floor.
'The exit door was open and the window by the fire door was completely smashed open.
'They believe this is probably how the burglar got in. A police officer has confirmed approximately £400,000 worth of items were stolen.'
Turner Prize-winning artist Damien Hirst, pictured burning of his artwork during Frieze Week, is one of Britain's most celebrated artists
Some of the property has been returned after it was discovered at Gomm's address, in Fulham, southwest London, but a number of pieces, valued in the thousands, remain missing.
Mr Hussain said Gomm lived at the address with his son, who was currently wanted by police over the burglary.
'His son is currently subject to a GPS tag,' the prosecutor said.
'After the incident, the son has taken off his tag and he is at large wanted by the police.'
Following his arrest, Gomm, who has a previous 110 offences to his name, of which 72 are theft or similar, initially denied any knowledge of the stolen items and claimed they were from a car boot sale, the court heard.
But on Wednesday he indicated a guilty plea to handling the stolen goods.
He will enter a basis of facts for that plea at Isleworth Crown Court during his sentencing hearing on August 6.
Gomm's lawyer, Moira MacFarlane, said her client had worked on the railways for seven years until his mother became unwell and died.
Remanding Gomm into custody, Magistrates Susan McGrane told him: 'Given the potential value of the stolen goods, you are going to be committed to the Crown Court for sentencing.
'The offence is so serious we do not have a great enough punishment we can give.'
Residents by Thames Wharf said it was thought that the thief walked past priceless artworks to target the clothes.
One said: 'We heard they went in on about the 30th.
'But quite amusingly the rumour is they did not take any artwork.
'Whoever it was just went straight past invaluable artwork and made off with thousands in clothes.'
Once an industrial site, Thames Wharf Studios was transformed in the 1980s by architect Richard Rogers and became home to artists, architects and the famous River Café.
A neighbour said the studio, which took a large delivery of canvases on Wednesday, was also used by snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Thought to be Britain's richest artist with a net worth of more than £300million, Hirst, 60, has produced world-famous provocative pieces such as 1991's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – a tiger shark submerged in formaldehyde.
Another iconic piece, Mother and Child (Divided) consists of a cow and calf bisected and preserved in separate tanks filled with formaldehyde.
The artwork was a focal point of Hirst's Turner Prize winning exhibition in 1995.
Hirst's work has been displayed at the British Museum, the Tate, New York's Museum of Modern Art and many others.
He also owns a 2,000-piece art collection that includes works from Francis Bacon and Picasso, and has a vast haul of historical artefacts, taxidermy and natural history specimens.
A spokesman for the artist said he would not comment on the burglary.
A source said it was impossible to know the true value of the haul given the pieces were unique, unseen by the public and were yet to be assessed by experts.
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