A stolen Leonardo Da Vinci painting was handed over to a private investigator in a pub car park, a court has heard.
The Madonna of the Yarnwinder began its journey back to Scotland in 2007, four years after it was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire.
Robert Graham, 57, of Lancashire, told Edinburgh High Court that he met an underworld figure in a Liverpool car park and paid £350,000 for the canvas.
Mr Graham is one of five men who deny trying to extort £4.25m for the canvas.
The private eye was giving evidence as the trial moved into its sixth week.
He insisted that everything he did was "legal and lawful" and denied that anyone had ever threatened the safety of the painting.
He described how his partner in Crown Private Investigations, John Doyle, had been the first to hear about the possibility of being involved in the return of the artwork.
The pair went to solicitor Marshall Ronald for advice and learned there was supposed to be a reward or finder's fee of £1m.
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