WEBVTT - Title Who Really Stole Goya's 'The Duke'? 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.920 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:15.120 partnership with I Heart Radio. If you have been joining 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.520 us since earlier seasons, you may recognize this man's name 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.799 from our shows about stalkers. Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.840 Wellington's famously stalked by Lady Georgiana Fayne, heiress and daughter 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.040 of John Fayne, tenth Earl of Westmoreland and holder of 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:35.040 many government offices. The Duke of Wellington is probably best 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.879 remembered for his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo. A 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.199 military general, he became one of the leading military and 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.600 political figures of nineteenth century Britain, and his portrait also 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.760 became a target of theft from the National Gallery in London, 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.720 though not for reasons you might imagine. The Duke was 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.440 once quoted as saying, the only thing I am afraid 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:01.760 of is fear. We wonder how he felt about ransom. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.920 Welcome to criminal Lea. I'm Maria from Marquis, and I'm 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.200 Holly Fry. There are a couple of people we need 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.360 to get to know surrounding this art theft. The artist 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.080 who painted the portrait, Francisco de Goya, The man who 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.240 sat for the stolen portrait, Arthur Wellesley, and the apparent thief, 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.680 a man named Kempton Bunton. Let's start by talking about 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.400 Goya and how he was given the honor of painting 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:30.520 the general's portrait. Goya is regarded as one of, if 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.840 not the most important Spanish artist of the late eighteenth 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:38.120 and early nineteenth centuries. He was born Francisco Jose de 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.360 Goya Elucientis on March thirtieth, seventeen forty six, in the 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.200 small town of Fuende Toto's near Zara Zoga, Spain, in 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.200 the northeastern Aragon region of the country. His father was 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.960 Jose Francisco da Paula, a guilder, and his mother, Gracia Lucientez, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:59.080 was a member of a weakened noble family. When he 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.640 was fourteen years old, Goya began a four year apprenticeship 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.080 with Spanish Baroque painter Jose Luzon, who had studied in 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:10.240 Naples in his late teen so in seventeen sixty three 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.240 and then again in seventeen sixty six, Goya participated in 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.840 competitions sponsored by the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:25.080 but he was unsuccessful both times. Sometime after seventeen sixty six, 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:29.120 and it's unclear exactly when he left, he traveled to Italy, 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.959 where he is documented as living at least in the 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.720 years seventeen seventy and seventeen seventy one. There he won 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.000 an honorable mention in a competition held at the Academia 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.120 de Parma, which got him the attention that he needed 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:48.000 to obtain religious commissions back home in Spain. In June 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:52.000 of seventeen seventy one, he returned to Spain, specifically to Zaragoza. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.600 On July seventeen seventy three, in Madrid, Goya Marian Jussefa Byou, 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.200 the sister of Francisco Bayou, the leading Spanish artist at court. 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.160 His brother in law greatly impacted Goya's career by getting 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.440 him a position at the Royal Tapestry Factory in Santa Barbara, 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.640 where Goya produced cartoons. In this instance, cartoons are the 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.720 working designs that serve as guides for tapestry. They were 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.919 often created on paper, but some, like Goya's, were executed 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.800 on canvas and then woven into wold tapestry on a 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.400 large mural scale. It was not unheard of for tapestry weavers, 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:31.080 frustrated by their complex composition to return cartoons to Goya. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.480 There's an alternate narrative here about the cartoons that suggests 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.320 it was German painter Anton Raphael Mengs who asked Goya 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.720 to work on tapestry cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Factory. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:46.520 But regardless, his work on tapestry cartoons elevated his name, 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.760 and that's the point here. While you can view as 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.520 cartoons today at the Proto Museum, many of the original 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.800 sketches were sold as works in their own artistic rights. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:01.080 Goya's career at the end of the eighteenth century was busy. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.080 He was very popular. He was unanimously elected to the 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.839 Academia in Madrid in May of seventeen eighty, and five 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.560 years later he was appointed its deputy director. He was 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.480 esteemed among his contemporaries for his ability as a portraitist. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.120 Goya received his first and we should qualify that as 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.240 first important portrait commissions in seventeen eighty three from the 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.000 Conda de la Florida Blanca and the Infanta Don Luis, 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.520 and he quickly became established as the portraitist of the 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:36.719 leading members of Madrid Society. Goya painted on commission between 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.640 seventeen seventy five and seventeen ninety one for King Charles 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.359 the Third of Spain and later King Charles the Fourth 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.520 of Spain, and both of those kings appointed him their 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:51.440 court painter shortly after their coronations. Of his sixty three 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.360 works for the two royal palaces, nine hunting scenes were 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.520 destined for the dining rooms at San Lorenzo de las Correale, 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.200 and ten cartoons for tapestries were intended for the dining 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.960 rooms at El Pardo. At the end of seventeen ninety two, 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.480 though Goya fell ill to a mysterious condition that incapacitated 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.479 him for much of the entire next year. It left 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.960 him permanently deaf and caused him to reevaluate his work 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.400 and goals as an artist. After eighteen o one, we 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.560 see that Goya was seldom given royal commissions, or at 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.680 least seldom took them. That he continued to draw a 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.520 large annual salary, and he continued to create portraits of 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.039 government officials in which the sitter's rank was always clearly 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.279 indicated in the piece, and that includes our sitter for 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.360 today's portrait the Duke of Wellington. The portrait of the 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.720 Duke of Wellington was painted by Goya during the general's 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.839 service in the Peninsular War, was kind of between the 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.240 final years of the war from eighteen twelve to eighteen fourteen. 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.440 Wellesley was a leading military and political figure, and he 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.039 served twice as Prime Minister. But as we mentioned earlier, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.160 he is best remembered for his victory over Napoleon at 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:05.919 Waterloo in eighteen fifteen. His battle plans are still studied 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.840 in military academies today, but right now we're looking at 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.000 just a few years before Waterloo. In eighteen o eight, 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.560 the French army invaded Spain and installed a new king, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.080 King Joseph, the first brother of the French Emperor Napoleon. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.040 The Peninsular War that followed, fought on the Iberian Peninsula 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.280 from eighteen o eight to eighteen fourteen, was a period 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.000 of really brutal conflict between the French and the Spanish, 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:36.159 Portuguese and British militaries. Goya's portrait that we're talking about 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.880 here was painted just after the Duke's victorious entry into 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.880 Madrid in August of eighteen twelve. A triumphant moment that 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:49.000 established his reputation as an offensive general. His wins were 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.839 the turning point in the war. His victory against Napoleon 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:57.159 cemented Wellington's status as a military hero, and he's credited 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.719 in part as the reason for the restoration of the 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.000 spain Fish monarchy, ironically as an asside on the Duke. Here, 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:06.760 when he was young, he had no interest in a 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.760 military career. Arthur had imagined himself pursuing his love of music. 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.560 But here he was having a big moment in his 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.880 military career. Who better to record it than the best 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.280 portraitist Goya. We're gonna take a little break here for 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.160 a word from our sponsors, and when we're back, let's 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.200 begin by talking about what this painting actually looks like 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:47.400 and who confessed to stealing it. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.880 So Goya actually created more than one portrait of the 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.760 Duke of Wellington's, all within just two to three years 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.640 of each other. Let's talk about which one went missing 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:04.080 and why. Goya produced a large portrait of the Duke 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.840 appearing on horseback. This is called the Equestrian Portrait of 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.880 the First Duke of Wellington, and it was publicly exhibited 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.280 in September eighteen twelve at the Real Academia de Bellas 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:19.560 artist San Fernando in Madrid. In September eighteen twelve. That 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.880 same year, he also completed a chalk drawing of Wellington. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.800 That piece now hangs in the British Museum. But the 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.640 portrait of Wellington that we're interested in is the one 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.720 simply known as the Portrait of the Duke of Wellington. 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.840 Let's talk about what this famous portrait looks like. The 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.880 head and Shoulders portrait was painted between eighteen twelve and 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.760 eighteen fourteen, and it shows the Duke in a three 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.720 quarter profile and he's facing towards his right. He is 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.640 standing with his head held high. His uniform bears the 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.440 insignia of several military orders and yes there are several 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.559 watch this. His left breast bears three stars, the British 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.800 Order of the Bath, the Portuguese Order of the Tower 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:05.240 and Sword, and the Spanish Order of San Fernando. He 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.960 wears two broad sashes over his right shoulder, the pink 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.400 sash of the Order of Bath over the blue sash 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.400 of the Order of the Tower and Sword. Around his 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.040 neck hangs the Order of a Golden fleece on a 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.480 red ribbon. The military gold cross hangs lower on longer 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.480 pink and blue ribbons. Though the general was entitled to 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.280 all nine gold clasps to the military gold cross, here 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.240 he appears with only three, and art historians theorized that 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.360 that might be to signify the battles he fought before 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.439 the painting had been started. Experts report that the portrait 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.280 appears to have been painted very quickly and with very 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:48.400 high energy. It's largely thought this portrait was originally painted 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.439 directly from life, and that Goya went back and then 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.800 made changes. For instance, over the years he altered the 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.680 Duke's pose, and he also made significant updates to the 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.240 piece each time the Duke was awarded new metal and 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:05.480 military orders. The painting had passed through the Duke's family, 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.760 owned by various people, until it was owned by John Osborne, 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.040 Duke of Leeds. He sold it at auction to an 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:17.000 American collector, Charles Reitzman, for one hundred forty thousand pounds 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:21.360 in early nineteen sixty one. In May of nineteen sixty one, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:25.040 Sir John Witt, the chairman of Trustees of the National Gallery, 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.320 notified the Wolfson Foundation a major source of charitable funding 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.360 and benefactor to the gallery. That quote, a highly critical 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.559 situation has now arisen concerning a picture which is an 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:42.120 essential part of British history. The Portrait of the Duke 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.319 of Wellington had been sold at Sobbys. That was completely 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:51.040 a totally legal transaction. But because the British government decided 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.120 that they did not want this painting to leave the country, 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.840 the Treasury teamed up with a charity, the aforementioned Wolfson Foundation, 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.199 and together they matched Rightsman's bid would be more than 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.400 two million pounds in today's prices. British Prime Minister Harold 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.880 McMillan pledged forty pounds and the foundation remitted the remaining 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.840 sum of one hundred thousand pounds. The gift was acknowledged 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.280 in Parliament and by patrons of the arts, including Sir Witt, 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:24.760 who characterized the funding as quote majestic, and in August 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.079 of that same year, the National Gallery in London s 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:31.240 Trafalgar Square unveiled its newest acquisition, the Portrait of the 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:35.000 Duke of Wellington by the Spanish master Goya. And just 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.400 like that, Goya's portrait of the Duke became really famous 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.840 among the Brits locals visited the National Gallery to see 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.000 what the fuss was all about and what all of 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:51.719 that money had been spent on. But that celebration didn't 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.680 actually laugh for very long at all. Eighteen days later, yeah, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:02.080 I said, eighteen days the Duke's portrait went missing from 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:06.280 the wall. Guards didn't report seeing any intruders, no damage 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.920 was done, and there were no traces of any equipment 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.440 or weapons on the scene. Nothing appeared to have been touched, 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.720 yet the goya was gone. The portraits absence was first 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:20.120 noticed by two patrolling guards, but each assumed the painting 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.800 had been temporarily moved by staff. That really wasn't an 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.880 uncommon occurrence at the time. It was gallery policy to 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.440 post a notice, which guards called tags, in place of 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.560 a removed work to inform security and others of its whereabouts, 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.880 but not everyone followed the process, and in this case, 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.840 there was no tag on the goya or the empty 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.080 space where the goya should have been. Because of lacks 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.720 tag usage, no guard assumed, at least not immediately, that 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.600 there had been a theft. At eight a m. The 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.720 next morning, though with the piece still missing, security got involved. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.840 Guards searched the Galleries Conservation and Photographic Studios. By nine 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.000 thirty a m. The Metropolitan Police were informed and over 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.440 the next few days the building was inspected and the 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:10.160 gallery staff was questioned. This was the first time in 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:14.000 the galleries one thirty eight year history that a theft 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:18.240 had happened. A reward of five thousand pounds was offered 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:22.720 by the Metropolitan Police for its immediate return. All reports 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.600 do suggest that there was a reward, but some suggest 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.920 that it was actually offered by the newspaper The Daily Mirror, 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:31.600 and there are even some reports that suggest that both 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.440 of those rewards were offered just a few years apart, 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.760 so you could see where that would get confusing. And 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.120 yet with one or two rewards offered, there were still 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.839 no leads. At one point the Metropolitan Police removed every 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.120 single postcard of the portrait of the Duke of Wellington 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.959 from the museum to use for identification purposes. In the 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.760 year after the theft, a replication of the stolen work 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.800 made a cheeky cameo in my favorite movie, the nine 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.560 two Bond film Doctor No. It was hidden in the 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.240 villains layer on crab Key, and about thirty minutes into 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.920 the movie we see bond take a lingering look at 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.880 a pretend portrait sitting on a gilded easel, kind of 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.200 a wink and a nod to the audience that perhaps 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.600 it was fictional doctor Julius No who was the villain 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.960 who stole the Goya. But no, it hadn't fallen into 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.760 the hands of spector, and doctor No was not behind 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:30.320 this heist. Authorities and actually most people you might have asked, 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.000 assumed that a professional art thief or a caper crew 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.720 were responsible. Newspapers speculated that a gang of Italian thieves 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:43.400 or perhaps even mafia, was behind the heist. Some speculated 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.560 that perhaps a daring aristocrat sponsored its disappearance. I know, 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.280 my first thought was probably the guy that tried to 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.680 buy it wanted to take it the first Charles like, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:58.840 I'm like. But those assumptions all changed when the National Gallery, 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:04.840 among others, began to receive handwritten ransom notes. Now enter 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.000 Kempton Bunton, a sixty one year old Newcastle retired bus 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.640 driver or perhaps cab driver or maybe truck driver that's 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.040 a little unclear, living on eight pounds a week, national 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.320 assistance in a sequence of five notes, which he called 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:25.640 calms Bunton communicated several things to authorities, including one that 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.800 he had the portrait. The first note was sent to 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:33.000 the news agency Reuters on August thirty one, and here 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.920 we quote from it. The act is an attempt to 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.800 pick the pockets of those who love art more than charity. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.480 The picture is not and will not be for sale. 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.880 It is for ransom one forty thousand pounds to be 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:51.120 given to charity. Yes, while he kept Goya's priceless painting 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.400 hidden in the back of his closet, Bunton sent anonymous 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.240 notes to newspapers, the gallery, and other important people in 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.800 the matter consistently stay eating. He would return the artwork 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.040 on the condition that the government invest in more elderly care. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.720 The next calm was received by the Exchange Telegraph news 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.880 agency on July four, nineteen sixty two, and that one 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.720 stated that quote the Duke is safe, his temperature cared 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:22.760 for his future uncertain. We want pardon or the right 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:27.880 to leave the country banishment. We ask that some nonconformist 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.440 type of person start the fund for one forty thousand pounds. 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.240 Bunton's calm on December thirty one, nineteen sixty three, which 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.920 also demanded a hundred forty thousand pounds arrived next, so 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.960 that's quite a gap. On March sixteenth, nineteen sixty five. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.040 His note was marked as quote fifth and final calm 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.800 and it read quote Goya's Wellington is safe. I have 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.320 looked upon this affair as an adventurous prank. Must the 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.240 authorities refuse to see it this way? I know now 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.080 that I am in the wrong, but I have gone 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.000 too far to retreat. He did not demand the ransom 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.560 sum this time, but rather insisted that he would return 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.080 the painting if it was agreed that it would be 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.600 exhibited privately for one month and then all viewing fees. 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.840 He suggested they charged five shillings a ticket collected during 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.600 that time be paid to charity. The thief well, of 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:28.760 course that guy should be granted immunity. One final correspondence 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:34.360 was received on addressed to the Daily Mirror. In it 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.920 was a left luggage ticket from the New Street station 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:42.040 in Birmingham, four years after their investigation began. Police rushed 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:47.040 to that left luggage locker, possibly the left luggage office 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.480 at the station, but reports a little fuzzy on that detail, 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.520 and that's where they recovered the missing artwork. About six 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.240 weeks or less ish after the piece was found Kempton, 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:01.720 Bunton turned himself in. We're going to take a break 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.920 for a word from our sponsor, and when we return 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.520 we will talk about what happened after Bunton entered a 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:24.679 West End police station and confess to the robbery. Welcome 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.919 back to criminalia. If Bunton didn't steal the painting for 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.919 financial gain, then why did he steal it? Well, for 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.480 reasons you might not think of. Things are about to 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:42.760 get a little unexpected. In July of nive Bunton entered 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.440 the now closed West End Central Police Station and announced 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.159 that he was guilty of stealing Goya's portrait of the 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:53.280 Duke of Wellington, but the police didn't actually take him 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:57.480 seriously immediately. A detective sergeant later told the court that 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:03.000 on Monday July five, he saw Bunton at New Scotland Yard, 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.919 asked him what he needed, and was informed by Bunton 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.160 that he was quote giving himself up for the Goya. 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.720 He had brought a statement with him to the station, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:16.119 offering these three explanations as part of his confession. Quote 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.040 one my secret has leaked. I wouldn't like a certain 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:24.240 gentleman to benefit financially by speaking to the law. Two, 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.399 I am sick and tired of the whole affair. Three 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.800 by surrendering in London, I avoid the stigma of being 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:38.600 brought here. In quote chains Bunton was really nothing like 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.800 what authorities presumed or imagined. The thief would look and 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.240 act like they were looking for a pro James Bond, 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:47.760 and they got a man described by the New York 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:54.440 Times as a quote burly, phlegmatic former truck driver. Bunton 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.840 was arrested. He confessed he had taken the painting, yes, 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:02.200 but he added he'd never intended on keeping it. To 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.280 quote Bunton, my sole object in all this was to 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.680 set up a charity to pay for television licenses which 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.480 fund the BBC in Britain for old and poor people 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.840 who seem to be neglected by our affluent society. Bunton 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.520 was regularly fired from jobs, usually we discovered for speaking 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.639 up for employees against management. He was also an aspiring 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.160 playwright whose scripts have been rejected by the BBC. And 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.399 he was an activist who saw television as a lifeline 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.280 for lonely seniors. And he was especially concerned for those 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.240 who were veterans of the First World War, including his father. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.560 Not all countries have or had this idea of a 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.679 television license, so really stripped down here the idea is 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.320 in some countries it's illegal to have a television without 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:53.000 paying an annual fee for access to television programming. Bunton 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.480 felt the fee for the British television license was too 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.280 high for those on a fixed income or those having 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:01.800 trouble making ends meet, and he protested by refusing to 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.919 pay his own license fee, and as a result, in 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.600 the year nineteen sixty alone, he had three short spells 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.119 in jail. Today, if your age seventy five are older 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:14.720 and you claim pension credit, you're entitled to a free 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.800 TV license in the UK. Bunton, who passed away in 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:20.560 nineteen seventy six, we can only assume would be really 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:25.840 pleased to hear that. Following his confession, Bunton was charged 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:30.719 with five offenses regarding the Goya heist. One two offenses 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:33.800 contrary to Section two of the Larceny Act of nineteen 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.879 sixteen by unlawfully taking the property of the trustees of 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.120 the National Gallery by stealing the portrait of the Duke 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:46.600 of Wellington and stealing the frame to two offenses of 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.640 demanding money with menace by sending threatening letters to trustee 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.520 of the National Gallery, Lord Robbins, as well as one 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:58.240 of the world's great press magnates, Lord Rothermere, three and 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.440 one offense of public since by quote the unlawful removal 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.600 and wrongful detaining of a painting on display at the 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.560 National Gallery. Bunton's case was initially heard at bow Street 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.760 Magistrate's Court, but was referred to trial at the Central 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:16.080 Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.400 the Old Bailey, between November four and sixteenth of nineteen 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:24.840 sixty five. He was represented by Jeremy Hutchinson, Queen's Council, 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.000 a lawyer who had made a name for himself in 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.440 the successful defense of Lady Chatterley's lover in nineteen sixties 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.120 obscenity trial. The case for the prosecution was led by 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:39.560 Edward Cussen and Brian Leary. Bunton's defense he wanted to 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.679 undermine some of the charges against him. You'll see what 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:44.920 we mean by that in just a moment, and of 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:48.440 course to persuade the jury to be sympathetic to his situation. 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:52.680 Hutchinson after the trial was quoted as saying that Bunton 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.120 was quote just rather a darling. I had an affection 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:59.040 for him. I had a great ace up my sleeve, 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.640 which was at the ex President of the Royal Academy, 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.119 Sir Gerald Kelly, had written to the Sunday Time saying 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.680 this painting wasn't worth a hundred and forty thousand pounds 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.800 and that he had doubts about its authenticity. In addition, 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:16.840 in Bunton's defense, Hutchinson also wanted to demonstrate that the 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.639 accusation of stealing we're going to air quote that in 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:23.320 this instance, in the form of larceny in this case, 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.399 would need proof of criminal intent to sell or to 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:30.040 keep the work. The defense argued that, according to the 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:33.959 language in the Larceny Act of nineteen sixteen, stealing was 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:37.040 only a crime if at the time of the taking 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:40.400 the person's intention was to deprive the owner of said 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:44.800 property for good. The evidence in court was clear that 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:47.840 Bunton had always said he intended to return the portrait 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.320 to the National Gallery once a donation to charity had 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.040 been made. In fact, he had stated that several times, 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:58.639 and he had written it in his calms. Hutchinson argued 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.120 in court that in the st the sense of the law, 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.760 this was not technically a theft because Bunton had merely 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:10.199 get those air quotes ready again borrowed the painting for 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:14.399 that single use, and in regard to that missing frame, 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:17.480 Council argued that it was simply common sense that when 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:21.960 a painting has taken, so is its related frame their 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:25.800 final point. There was no villainous intent here and no 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:30.719 actual crime. At his trial, Bunton told the court that 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:33.560 he heard the government had paid quite a lot of 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:37.000 money for one small painting and he didn't feel that 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:40.840 that was a fair thing. He described visiting the National 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:43.479 Gallery to see what was so great about the Goya, 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:47.560 and he explained how he navigated the heist. He described 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:50.440 that contractors who had been doing some renovations had left 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:53.280 a ladder lying in the street outside and a window 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.399 in the men's restroom had been left unlocked. According to 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:59.440 Bunton's story, he noted the galleries weaknesses and he took 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:03.280 advantage of them. But I mean that's hardly a mastermind situation, 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:09.600 just taking advantage of lack of security. A Metropolitan Police 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:13.760 investigation at the scene revealed that yes, his story matched. 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.320 Building renovations had been in progress at the gallery on 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.199 the day that the painting disappeared. Their report included that 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.280 a window in the men's restroom, which overlooked the inner 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:28.119 of the buildings two courtyards, had apparently been left open, 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:31.800 and they confirmed that a builder's ladder had been placed 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:36.000 beneath that open window. The police had taken samples of 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:39.280 dirt found on the window sill. Those samples were found 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:43.320 to be identical to mud in the inner courtyard. Similar 0:25:43.400 --> 0:25:45.800 mud marks had also been found on the top of 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:48.760