Guilty pleas for stealing Winston Churchill portrait from Ottawa hotel

1 month_ago 21

Ottawa·Breaking

The Powassan, Ont., antheral accused of stealing 1 of the world's astir celebrated portraits from the Château Laurier and switching it for a fake during a COVID-19 lockdown has pleaded blameworthy to 3 of 6 charges.

Missing Roaring Lion people recovered successful Italy past year

A radical enters a courthouse connected a wintertime day. In the mediate is simply a antheral successful a bluish coat, scarf and sunglasses.

The small-town Ontario man accused of stealing 1 of the world's astir celebrated portraits from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel and switching it for a fake during a COVID-19 lockdown has pleaded blameworthy to 3 of the six charges against him.

The edifice was fixed the people of The Roaring Lion, a representation of erstwhile British premier curate Winston Churchill, successful 1998 by celebrated lensman and longtime edifice resident Yousuf Karsh.

Sometime astir New Year's Day 2022, while Ottawa was successful a COVID-19 lockdown, the representation was stolen and replaced with a framed fake — despite being affixed with peculiar bolts that required circumstantial cognition and unsocial tools to unfasten.

The transgression went unnoticed until the pursuing August, erstwhile a edifice unit subordinate noticed thing amiss with the portrait.

A representation of a person from the 1940s.

The theft made international headlines and led Ottawa police investigators connected a hunt spanning respective countries and two continents. They yet determined the representation had been purchased done a London auction house by a antheral successful Genoa, Italy.

The purchaser had nary thought he'd acquired a cherished portion of Canadian past — fto unsocial a stolen 1 — and erstwhile contacted by police, helium rapidly agreed to instrumentality it.

WATCH | Returned representation unveiled again with other security:

Recovered photograph of Winston Churchill is backmost successful Ottawa

A representation of Winston Churchill by acclaimed Canadian lensman Yousuf Karsh — which was swiped, replaced with a copy, reported stolen six months aboriginal and recovered successful Italy 18 months aft that — has been returned to the partition of the Fairmont Château Laurier edifice successful Ottawa.

When they revealed last September that the coating had been found, Ottawa constabulary besides announced six charges against Jeffrey Wood.

The 44-year-old from Powassan, a municipality of astir 3,300 people southbound of North Bay, pleaded blameworthy Friday to forgery, theft implicit $5,000 and trafficking spot obtained by crime.

More to come.