Removal man admits selling stolen £240,000 sculpture

La Grande Nuit, by sculptor Henri Laurens
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A removals man was caught selling a stolen £240,000 sculpture which went missing after a house move.

Jeffrey Ready, 63, was apprehended after offering the artwork La Grande Nuit by celebrated French sculptor Henri Laurens to a Mayfair antiques market, Southwark crown court heard.

He admitted a single charge of handling stolen goods yesterday and was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months.

The court heard that Ready, who lives in Notting Hill, had been working for international removals firm Cadogan Tate.

He was part of the crew which on August 28, 2015 had been to an address in Hanover Square in central London belonging to a Swiss multi-millionaire, who owned the artwork and also had homes in Switzerland and others in the UK.

Jeffrey Ready convicted of handling stolen goods
John Dunne

The 71cm-long bronze was at the property but was not on the list of items to move. It was removed and ended up in the possession of Ready. It is not known when it was taken.

When he was arrested after attempting to sell the sculpture more than two years later, Ready told police that he had bought it off “two Polish blokes who were selling it at a scrapyard”, the judge heard.

The court was also told that Ready had tried to sell the artwork to Chiswick Auction house but the deal was rejected because he could not provide supporting paperwork to authenticate it, or prove his purchase.

Ready then agreed a price of £10,000 with Mayfair antiques market Grays after they had established that the 1950 artwork was not on the lost or stolen register, the court heard.

Prosecutor Avantika Prakash said: “He was paid £10,000 — £9,500 in cash and a £500 cheque.”

However, after further enquiries the market contacted Christie’s and established that the legal owner was the Swiss multi-millionaire who had bought the artwork from them in 2012 but had not reported it missing or stolen.

Soon after this discovery, Ready was arrested at his home on November 4, 2017.

La Grande Nuit, by sculptor Henri Laurens, was sold to an antiques market

Sentencing him, Judge David Tomlinson said he had little sympathy with Ready’s claims that he had got into financial difficulties.

He told him that after he sold the artwork “you blew at least £3,000 gambling”. The court heard that he had also “gifted” his sons £500 each.

The judge said: “You will have a curfew, it will be electronically monitored. I hope this is the last time you end up in court.”

The court was told that Cadogan Tate had sacked Ready for unrelated matters a year after the Hanover Square removal contract.

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