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Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN
Published: 22 June 2007

£10,000 art thief fled with a parking ticket

A THIEF who took £10,000 paintings from a Holloway art shop is still on the run – two years after he received a parking ticket while his getaway car was parked outside the shop.
The audacious theft happened on a busy weekday afternoon in March 2005 as a courier collection was due to be made at Leonard Villa framers, in Caledonian Road.
Owner Lenny Villa believes he was the victim of a carefully planned sting, with the thief impersonating a courier.
“I had ordered a courier van to deliver four paintings and frames to customers in the West End,” he said. “They were collected by a man disguised as a courier employee. The man got away before I could get his number plate.”
Four paintings by artist Susan MacArthur, all with white gold frames, were stolen.
While talking to Mr Villa, the thief, who was in his 20s, received a parking ticket for his silver Series 5 BMW, which was illegally parked on the opposite side of Caledonian Road.
Mr Villa said: “I brought this to the attention of Islington Council, who told me that fines could only be revealed to the police.
“They assured me it was being looked into but, after weeks of chasing them up, the council told me they knew nothing about it.”
Police confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that no one had been arrested for the theft.
Mr Villa had taken out full insurance for the frames but when he made a claim he was offered nothing because it was a case of theft by deception and not a break-in.

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