Da Vinci Accused Private Eye 'Was Conned'

A private detective accused of plotting to hold a stolen Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece to ransom was conned, a jury heard on Thursday.

Robert Graham, 57, was told a contract had been signed which protected him from prosecution if he helped return the art treasure to its rightful home in Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfreisshire.

But a Lancashire-based lawyer he turned to for help lied to him, claimed solicitor advocate John Keenan, defending in his closing speech at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Graham is one of five men accused of demanding a ransom of more than £4million for the safe return of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder painting.

The art treasure had been missing for more than four years after armed raiders stole it from the Duke of Buccleuch's stately home in August 2003.

Mr Keenan, asking jurors to acquit Graham, said he had been confronted by "a thorny problem" after a tip-off that he could get his hands on the painting.

He needed expert advice and went to solicitor Marshall Ronald to see how the picture could be returned to its rightful owner without breaking the law.

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Da Vinci Painting 'Handed Over in Pub Car Park'

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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