Latest news with #YousufKarsh
Ammon
5 days ago
- Ammon
Thief of Churchill photo sentenced to two years in prison
Ammon News - A Canadian man who stole the famed portrait of a scowling Winston Churchill in a brazen international art heist was sentenced to jail Monday, according to local media. The "Roaring Lion" portrait of the late British prime minister had been gifted to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa by the late Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh. Taken by Karsh after the wartime leader addressed the Canadian parliament in 1941, Churchill's scowl became a symbol of British defiance in World War II. In August 2022, hotel staff noticed the photograph, hanging in a reading room next to the main lobby, had been replaced with a forgery, and Ottawa police in 2024 announced they had found the culprit. According to Canada's public broadcaster CBC, the man, Jeffrey Wood, pleaded guilty to forgery, theft, and trafficking property obtained by crime in March. He was sentenced to jail for a duration of two years less a day on Monday at an Ottawa courthouse.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Churchill ‘Roaring Lion' photo thief ‘breached trust' of nation
A thief who stole a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill was told he had 'breached' the trust of the nation as he was sentenced to just shy of two years in jail for one of the most brazen art heists in Canadian history. Jeffrey Ian James Wood, a 44-year-old small-time art collector, removed the famed 'Roaring Lion' print of Britain's wartime leader from Ottawa's Fairmont Château hotel in January 2022. The 20 x 24 portrait of Sir Winston outside Canada's House of Commons, taken by by Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941, features on £5 banknotes and is estimated to be worth millions of pounds. The theft was not discovered until months later, as Wood had replaced the original with a fake. After a two-year international search, the original print was discovered in the possession of a private buyer in Genoa, Italy, who bought it for £4,200 believing it was a signed copy. The picture had been taken to Europe and sold at Sotheby's, the British fine art broker which was not aware it was stolen. Wood, a failed philosophy student that struggled to keep steady employment, made approximately £2,700 from the theft. He had hatched the plot in December 2021 to try and financially support his brother, who he says was debilitated with mental health problems. He told the court: 'I had never in 40 years gone to bed or woken up considering committing a crime. 'I never even had a speeding ticket and some day in the first 10 days of December 2021... I knew that I had to intervene in a meaningful way and I had an obstacle. That obstacle was money.' Ninety minutes after he sold the painting, his brother was found dead in a bathtub, Wood told the court. Wood described lying in bed at night racked by guilt and 'formulating and reformulating apologies' to Karsh's family. Justice Robert Wadden said Wood had breached the nation's trust and that the print was 'irreplaceable'. '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. Lawrence Greenspon, Wood's defence lawyer, told reporters outside the courthouse that he would be launching an appeal within 10 days. He said: 'It was an unnecessarily harsh sentence. Given that he's a first-time offender, it's a property crime and he pleaded guilty.' Nicola Cassinelli, the Genoa buyer and a prominent lawyer, said an interview with The Telegraph last November that Sotheby's called him three months after the purchase imploring him not to sell or transfer the work to any third parties as an investigation was underway. Scotland Yard detectives, with the assistance of their counterparts in Italy's Carabinieri, had traced the portrait to Genoa following the Sotheby's sale. After a few Google searches, Mr Cassnielli realised he was unwittingly embroiled in the Canadian art heist mystery of the century and returned it to the Fairmont Château hotel. He said: 'This was the emblematic photo that captured his anger, the strength of the free world – good that triumphs over evil. It's historic. 'All my friends and guests who came to my house, we would joke about having such an important piece of artwork right before our eyes. 'Like having a Mona Lisa... because I paid a few thousand pounds but online I had read it was worth millions. It was as if I was in a film.' In 2023, Wood was successfully identified as the seller after Detective Akiva Geller of the Ottawa Police found a DNA match between a toothbrush left by Wood in a locker and the piece of duct tape used to fix the fake on the lounge wall. Inside the locker they discovered a second fake printout of the 'Roaring Lion' with an invoice from the online company Redbubble, Canadian media reported. The receipt was in Wood's name. Geneviève Dumas, the general manager of the Château Laurier hotel, said: 'We're very happy to see that Canadian history is recognised.'
ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Thief of iconic Winston Churchill portrait 'Roaring Lion' sentenced to jail
A Canadian man who stole an iconic portrait of a scowling Winston Churchill in a brazen international art heist has been sentenced to jail, according to local media. The portrait, known as Roaring Lion, vanished from the walls of Ottawa's Fairmont Château Laurier in 2022, sparking a multi-year police investigation. According to Canada's public broadcaster CBC, the man, Jeffrey Wood, pleaded guilty in March to forgery, theft, and trafficking property obtained by crime. He was sentenced to jail for almost two years on Monday, local time, at an Ottawa courthouse. CBC reported that Justice Robert Wadden told Wood that he was guilty of stealing a "cultural and historical" portrait that was a "point of national pride". The judge said Wood planned to use the money he received from selling the portrait to help his brother, according to the Toronto Star. "But his brother died that spring before Mr Wood received the proceeds from the sale," Mr Wadden said in his decision. The famed portrait was snapped by Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941, just after Churchill gave a rousing wartime address to the Canadian parliament. The image is arguably the most recognised of Churchill and widely circulated, even appearing on the British five pound note. Mr Karsh gifted the photograph to the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in 1998, where it hung in a reading room next to the main lobby. But in August 2022, staff member Bruno Lair noticed an issue with the frame — a wire where specialised locking bolts should have been. Ottowa police said a fake print, complete with a forged artist's signature, sat where the original once hung for several months before it was discovered. "At the beginning, we had nothing but a big hole in the wall where this portrait was supposed to be, and no leads," lead investigator Detective Akiva Geller said. Police said a piece of tape attached to the fake, torn with teeth, had retained traces of saliva, but no matches were found in the national DNA database initially. Mr Geller began scouring auction houses and online listings around the world. He discovered a suspicious Roaring Lion print, claiming to be from the Karsh estate, which was marked for sale at Sotheby's in London. Police said it had no history, the wrong frame, slight damage and was sold in May 2022, within the period of the theft. Meanwhile, the hotel called for people to submit photos from their visits to the venue. This allowed police to determine the real Roaring Lion had been stolen and replaced sometime between December 25, 2021, and January 6, 2022. To pinpoint the seller, Mr Geller initiated a "mutual legal assistance treaty" request. Almost a year later, a trove of documents confirmed the suspect's identity as Jeffrey Wood, a 43-year-old man from Powassan, Ontario. Police said Wood had fabricated a fake persona, attempting to sell the stolen portrait under a pseudonym. Mr Geller obtained a search warrant for Wood's storage unit, where he uncovered another Roaring Lion print and a toothbrush with a DNA match to the torn tape. Wood was arrested on April 25 last year. The buyer of the portrait, an Italian lawyer who was unaware it was stolen, worked with police to return it to Canada, where it was reinstalled at the hotel on November 15. Mr Karsh previously said making the portrait "changed his life", adding he captured Churchill's expression immediately after plucking a cigar out of the British leader's mouth. "By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me," Mr Karsh said. "It was at that instant that I took the photograph."
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Canadian who stole iconic Winston Churchill portrait sentenced
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.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Churchill photo thief sentenced to two years in jail
A Canadian man has been sentenced to almost two years in prison for stealing a famous photograph of Sir 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 forgery. The photo of Britain's war-time prime minister, taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941, features on the UK £5 note. Ottawa 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 fake. According to Canadian media, Wood said he took the photo to find money for his brother, who was suffering from mental health problems. 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 Corporation. Wood 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 prison. The lawyer representing Wood said the sentence was "unnecessarily harsh" given that he was a first-time offender. Churchill photo stolen in Canada discovered in Italy Iconic Churchill photo vanishes from Canada hotel
