A Canadian man has been sentenced to almost two years in prison for stealing a famous photograph of Sir Winston Churchill.
The black and white Roaring Lion portrait depicts a scowling 67-year-old Winston Churchill shortly after he delivered a speech to the Canadian parliament.
Jeffrey Wood pleaded guilty to stealing the original print from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022. He also admitted forgery.
The photograph, which was taken by Yousaf Karsh in 1941, features on the UK £5 note and is one of the most enduring portraits of the late Prime Minister.
The portrait went missing in August 2022 after a hotel staff member realised the original photograph had been replaced with a fake.
Ottawa Police said the photograph was found last year in Genoa, in Italy, in the possession of a private buyer who had no idea it had been stolen.
Wood said he took the photograph to find money for his brother, who was suffering with his mental health, Canadian media reported.
During sentencing, Justice Robert Wadden said: “It is a point of national pride that a portrait taken by a Canadian photographer would have achieved such fame.”
“There is an element of trust in our society that allows such properties to be displayed, to be enjoyed by all Canadians. To steal, damage and traffic in such property is to breach that trust,” he added.
Geneviève Dumas, the general manager of the Château Laurier hotel, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the portrait “means a lot more than just a print that's available anywhere else”.
“We're happy to see that Canadian history is recognised,” she said. “So I'm very happy.”
Wood was sentenced to “two years less a day”, a distinction which means he will serve his sentence in a provincial institution instead of a federal prison.
The lawyer representing Wood said the sentence was “unnecessarily harsh” given that he was a first-time offender.
