Art raiders bottle it over paintings

TWO paintings worth more than £1,000 were stolen from an art gallery after staff were distracted by a fat woman hitting herself on the head with a plastic bottle repeatedly.

The theft happened at A Room Full of Butterflies in Nottingham when the gallery and gift shop were both busy.

Police are looking for two people who were involved in the theft.

Gallery owner Andy Welch said: “A very tall guy and an overweight woman came into the shop at around 4.30pm.

“The women started banging herself on the head with a plastic water bottle – which confused everyone.

“While this happened the guy went upstairs.

“Suddenly he came charging down and out the door and the woman stopped hitting herself.

“They are really good pieces of work and we just don’t want them to be sold down the pub for £10.”