A housesitter was tied to a banister and hooded while burglars carried out a multimillion-pound raid at a cider-making family’s home, a jury heard. Ms Barnjum’s sister arrived the following day to find the housesitter “distressed and still tied up” and called police. Azhar MirFollowing the burglary, the paintings were allegedly taken to Birmingham and stored in the garage of Thomas Lynch. With the assistance of him and the Bulmer family, an advert was placed in the Antiques Trade Gazette in February 2015 offering a £50,000 reward for the paintings. Maliska, Price, Obiamwie and Jonathan Rees, 62, of Weybridge, Surrey, deny conspiracy to defraud James Esmond Bulmer and Hiscox Insurance.

Source: Daily Mail June 13, 2018 15:35 UTC