Fined just £1 for art fraud

A CON artist who made more than £30,000 selling forgeries he claimed were the work of a renowned pitman painter has been ordered to pay back just £1.

Richard Pearson destabilised the international art market by flooding it with work which he pretended had been produced by Norman Cornish.

The fraudster persuaded the owners of a Northumberland gallery that he had access to a collection by Mr Cornish through a friend who wanted to sell it.

A court heard he sold 14 drawings and paintings, fleecing the owners of the gallery out of tens of thousands of pounds.

But the 56-year-old’s scam started to unravel after he forged receipts for the artwork from the 1960s but recorded the transaction in decimal currency rather than pounds, shillings and pence. A phone number was also too long and a restorer noticed one of the canvases appeared to be too new.

Pearson was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court in January after the family of Mr Cornish, of County Durham, who died in 2014, said his reputation “must not be sullied”.

Now the conman has been back in court on a video-link to prison for a proceeds of crime hearing.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister said: “The total benefit figure, which is not disputed, is the sum of £31,650. A financial investigator has made inquiries and had come to the conclusion there are no available assets.

“The application today is for a confiscation order to be made in the form of a nominal sum of £1. The matter can be reviewed regularly to see if the defendant comes into the possession of any assets.”

Judge Edward Bindloss ordered Pearson must pay the £1 within 28 days.

He said: “Following a rigorous financial investigation no assets have been found to be available to this defendant.

“If he comes into any assets, they are liable to be confiscated from him.”

Mr Cornish’s son-in-law, Michael Thornton, who read a statement in court on behalf of the family in January, said they monitor the sales of his artwork.

At the latest hearing, Pearson’s solicitor said Pearson has been adjusting to life in custody and has been teaching other inmates.