Latest news with #TheRoaringLion
UPI
27-05-2025
- UPI
Canadian who stole iconic Winston Churchill portrait sentenced
Ottawa Police members pose for a photo in Rome, Italy, in September of 2024 during a ceremony marking the repatriation of The Roaring Lion portrait of Sir Winston Churchill. The famed photo had been stolen from an Ottawa hotel in the winter of 2021-2022. On Monday, the thief, Jeffrey Lain James Wood, was sentenced to two years less a day in prison. Photo courtesy of Ottawa Police Service/ Facebook May 27 (UPI) -- A Canadian man who pleaded guilty to stealing an iconic portrait of Sir Winston Churchill from a storied Ottawa hotel more than three years ago has been sentenced to two years less a day in prison. Jeffrey Lain James Wood received his sentence Monday in an Ottawa courtroom, CBC reported. He had pleaded guilty in March to forgery, theft over $5,000 -- or $3,640 USD -- and trafficking property obtained by crime. The Roaring Lion is a world-famous photograph of Churchill taken by renowned Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941 in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. A resident of Ottawa's famed Fairmont Chateau Laurier for nearly two decades, Karsh moved out of the hotel in 1998, and upon his exit, gifted the hotel seven photographs, including the Churchill portrait, which hung on its walls until the pandemic hit. According to the Chateau Laurier, the photograph was stolen between Dec. 25, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022, and was replaced by the thief with an imitation, "deceiving everyone until a hotel staff member discovered the theft" that August. Ottawa police said the hotel employee had noticed differences with the frame and the wire mechanism, which led to the discovery of the fake print, complete with a forged Karsh signature. An investigation brought Ottawa police to the attention of a Roaring Lion print that was said to be from the Karsh estate and was up for sale at London's Sotheby's auction house. It was then sold to a buyer in Genoa, Italy. Ottawa police said neither the buyer nor the auction house knew the photograph was stolen. Police then learned that the seller was Wood, a man in his 40s from Powassan Ont., who had created a fake identity and credentials in an effort to move the famed photograph. Wood was arrested and charged on April 24, 2024. The photograph was returned to the hotel in September of that year and returned to its walls on Nov. 15, 2024.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- BBC News
Churchill photo thief sentenced to two years in Canadian jail
A Canadian man has been sentenced to almost two years in prison for stealing a famous photograph of Winston Churchill known as "The Roaring Lion".Jeffrey Wood had pleaded guilty to stealing the original print from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022. He also admitted committing photo of Britain's war-time prime minister, taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941, features on the UK £5 Police said it was found last year in Genoa, Italy in the possession of a private buyer, who was unaware it was stolen. The image depicts a frowning Churchill, who was 67 at the time, shortly after he delivered a speech to the Canadian parliament. It wasn't until August 2022 that a hotel staff member realised the original photo had been replaced with a to Canadian media, Wood said he took the photo to find money for his brother, who was suffering from mental health issues. During sentencing, Justice Robert Wadden said: "It is a point of national pride that a portrait taken by a Canadian photographer would have achieved such fame.""There is an element of trust in our society that allows such properties to be displayed, to be enjoyed by all Canadians. To steal, damage and traffic in such property is to breach that trust," he added."We're very happy to see that Canadian history is recognised," said Geneviève Dumas, the general manager of the Château Laurier hotel, according to the Canadian Broadcasting was sentenced to "two years less a day", a distinction which means he will serve his sentence in a provincial institution instead of a federal lawyer representing Wood said the sentence was "unnecessarily harsh" given that he was a first-time offender.
CBC
26-05-2025
- CBC
Man behind Churchill portrait heist going to jail
The man behind an international art heist that began in Ottawa is going to jail. Some time between Christmas and New Year's Eve 2022, Jeffrey Wood stole the world-famous portrait of a scowling, wartime Winston Churchill, titled The Roaring Lion, from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel, replacing it with a fake. In March, Wood pleaded guilty to forgery, theft over $5,000 and trafficking property obtained by crime. Three additional charges were withdrawn. At the Ottawa Courthouse on Monday, Wood was sentenced to two years less a day in custody. The celebrated photographer Yousuf Karsh, a longtime resident of the Château Laurier, gave the portrait to the hotel in 1998. It has now been returned to the hotel following its disappearance, and the international hunt that followed. Before stealing the portrait, Wood had reached out to Sotheby's auction house about selling a print of The Roaring Lion from the Karsh estate. He also posted on social media about his plans to leave Canada, and days before the theft he placed a two-minute phone call to the hotel. The framed portrait had been affixed to a wall with special bolts that required specific knowledge and unique tools to unfasten. The crime went unnoticed until the following August when a hotel staff member saw something amiss with the replacement portrait. The theft made international headlines and launched an Ottawa police investigation spanning several countries and two continents. Investigators eventually determined that a man in Genoa, Italy, had purchased the portrait through a London auction house. The buyer had no idea he had acquired a cherished piece of Canadian history — let alone a stolen one — and when contacted by police, he quickly agreed to return it.
Global News
26-05-2025
- Global News
Winston Churchill portrait thief sentenced to 2 years less a day in jail
The Ontario man who pleaded guilty to stealing an iconic portrait of former British prime minister Winston Churchill from Ottawa's Chateau Laurier was sentenced Monday to two years less a day in jail. Earlier this year, Jeffrey Wood admitted stealing the portrait and committing forgery. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Known as 'The Roaring Lion,' the wartime photo of Churchill was snapped by Yousuf Karsh in 1941 in the Speaker's office just after the former prime minister delivered an address to Canada's Parliament. Toward the end of his life, Karsh signed and donated the portrait to the hotel, where he had lived and worked for many years. The theft occurred in late December 2021 or early January 2022 but was not discovered for months because the thief replaced the original print with a copy.
CBC
15-03-2025
- CBC
Accused pleads guilty to stealing Churchill portrait, but won't reveal how
After three years of international intrigue, Ontario man Jeffrey Wood pleaded guilty to three charges in the theft and forgery of the famous The Roaring Lion portrait of Winston Churchill, stolen from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel. Wood did not reveal in court how he pulled off the crime.
