Thief ‘missed priceless Damien Hirst works' in raid on artist's studio
The thief smashed a window to enter the workshop in Hammersmith, west London, at some point between June 27 and 30, Westminster magistrates' court was told.
They are said to have stolen unique T-shirts, shirts and trousers designed by the artist, along with a set of hi-tech speakers, from the studio in the Thames Wharf building.
Leslie Gomm, 61, pleaded guilty to handling the stolen goods, although the court heard that his son, Liam, is suspected of carrying out the burglary and remains at large.
Suleman Hussain, prosecuting, said the building had a password-protected secure door but the burglar smashed through a window next to a fire exit to reach the second-floor gallery.
'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 that approximately £400,000 worth of items were stolen.'
Some pieces were reportedly recovered from Gomm's address in Fulham, south-west London, but a number, valued in the thousands, remain missing.
The court heard that the discovered pieces were returned to Hirst after Gomm initially denied any knowledge of the stolen items and claimed they were from a car boot sale.
Gomm lived at the address with his son, who is now wanted by police over the burglary, said Mr Hussain.
'His son is currently subject to a GPS tag,' the prosecutor added. 'After the incident, the son has taken off his tag and he is at large, wanted by the police.'
Moira MacFarlane, defending, said Gomm had worked on the railways for seven years until his mother became ill and died. He will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Aug 6.
While it is not known which artworks were kept at Hirst's studio, nearby residents said they believed the thief had missed out on pieces worth millions.
One told the Daily Mail: '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.'
Hirst, 60, has been reported to be the world's richest artist, with an estimated net worth of more than £300 million.
He burst onto the art scene in the 1990s, along with fellow artists like Tracey Emin, and his work was championed by the influential collector Charles Saatchi.
His works have sold for huge sums, such as Lullaby Spring, a cabinet holding 6,136 individually painted pills, which sold for £15 million in 2007. Other notable works have included animals preserved in formaldehyde, including a dove, a pair of calves, and a shark dissected into three pieces.
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