Butler to Prince’s friend stole £2m of gems
THE butler to an Army officer friend of the Prince of Wales stole Fabergé eggs, a Picasso painting and Cartier watches to fund his “exorbitant” gambling habit, a court has heard.
Simon Dalton, 54, had been entrusted to look after Major Christopher Hanbury’s household and was treated as a member of the family.
But unbeknown to them, he helped himself to gems and other valuables worth more than £2 million from the safe over a period of three years, selling or pawning them to squander almost £600,000 through a William Hill betting account.
A Picasso line painting and a Toulouse-lautrec artwork, both worth £650,000, and a Bob Dylan painting worth £100,000, are feared to have been sold on the black market to fund Dalton’s gambling habit.
Three Fabergé eggs, Cartier watches and a Fabergé stamp were pawned for cash but were later recovered and returned to the family, who run a polo stud farm.
Major Hanbury, 73, a former member of the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars and an aide to the Sultan of Brunei, is a friend of the Prince of Wales and once hosted Prince Harry at El Remanso, his Argentinian polo estate.
He employed Dalton in 2009 to “sort all affairs for the family” at their home in Hungerford, Berks, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Dalton was paid a £19,000 salary and lived rent-free in a cottage in the grounds with his wife, Helen. When the victims inquired about items that were missing from the safe, Dalton “would manipulate them into thinking it was their fault and that they were getting forgetful or worse.” The court heard that he would falsely claim they must have “lost them” – saying: “You had that in your hand don’t you remember?”
But the truth emerged when the family mentioned that they would install cameras in the safe.
Dalton panicked and on Dec 27 2012, he fled in the Hanburys’ VW Scirocco while the couple were on holiday in Switzerland, leaving a note for his wife saying: “I can’t take it anymore, going to Scotland to clear my head for a few months.”
Police caught up with Dalton after he fled to France and set up a safety deposit box in Lille which was found to contain a suitcase full of his clothing and £1.9million worth of jewellery and gems that were returned.
David Farley, prosecuting, said that when the police were eventually called, they discovered that £725,000 had been transferred to his bank accounts over a threeyear period.
Dalton, who now lives in Hale, Cheshire, admitted theft and was jailed for six years. Judge Martin Steiger QC said: “These are grave offences. The defendant was a trusted steward for a wealthy family and he was entrusted with the upkeep of the house and the state of some of their financial affairs.”
Major Hanbury’s wife Bridget, 68, said her family had welcomed Dalton into their home and “trusted him so much”. She added: “We had a life of peaceful security before he came and acted in the way he did.” The couple’s daughter Jessica, 38, said the thefts had a “rippling effect” on her family.