Jailed Thief left art gallery with iconic picture of Fab Four
APROLIFIC Cheltenham thief who stole a £21,000 string of pearls and an iconic picture of the Beatles during raids on a house and an art gallery in the town has been jailed.
Gloucester Crown Court was told that Wesley Bowen, 42, of no fixed address, went to the Castle Fine Art Gallery in the Promenade moments before the venue closed on September 22 and walked out with a limited edition print by artist Nigel Humphries.
Called ‘The Beatles – Yellow Submarine’, the picture is from the artist’s popular ‘Mixtape’ collection.
On October 9, less than three weeks after the brazen theft, Bowen, formerly of Matson Lane, Gloucester, broke into a house in Malvern Road and stole the pearls, the court was told.
Prosecutor David Maunder said: “At 5pm on September 22, Bowen entered the Castle Fine Art Gallery with a black bag and made his way to a particular piece of artwork and tucked himself behind a wall. He grabbed the artwork by Nigel Humphries, featuring the Beatles, valued at £375, and placed it in a bag. Moments later he came back into view of the CCTV as he left the gallery.
“He was wearing some distinctive clothing – a colourful top, shorts, black trainers and glasses and a blue-coloured cast on his left arm.” He said Bowen burgled the Malvern Road property while the owner was out for the evening. He found a box of jewellery, both costume and real gems, cameras and a string of pearls, valued at £21,000. When arrested, Bowen had two of the missing cameras and two wraps of heroin. He also had serveral class B pills.
Bowen, who admitted the art gallery theft, the burglary in Malvern Road and being in possession of class A and B drugs, breached a two-year suspended prison sentence for burglary.
James Mckenna, defending, said insufficient measures had been put in place to help Bowen after he received his suspended sentence. He said his client was also suffering from cancer.
The judge, Recorder Richard Shepherd, jailed Bowen for four-and-a-half years, ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £190 and confiscated the drugs and paraphernalia.