A 90-year-old widow told a jury of her “helplessness” as she watched one of a pair of allegedly bogus antique dealers steal a painting from her home.
Londoner Audrey Carr said Lee Collins ignored repeated pleas not to take the £15,000 painting off her wall.
“I was so flummoxed… I couldn’t stop him,” she told Blackfriars Crown Court.
Mr Collins, 39, of Dyke Road, Brighton, and Mark Duncan, 33, of Station Road, Buxted, East Sussex, deny 18 charges of conspiracy, theft and deception.
‘Cajoled and harangued’
Mrs Carr told the court Mr Collins stole the oil painting of Hong Kong by Edward Seago and another watercolour by the same artist.
She is one of 13 elderly, wealthy London victims who complained of being “cajoled, harangued and deceived” into parting with possessions for a fraction of their worth, according to prosecutor Brian O’Neill.
Others simply had their valuables stolen, he said.
Mrs Carr told the court Mr Collins had visited her in her South Kensington home on several occasions in late 2004 and early 2005 after saying he wanted to sell some of her property, which did not include the paintings.
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 I told him ‘that is not for sale, leave it alone’, but he took no notice  |
She said after Mr Collins visited she realised the watercolour had gone missing.
But the incident apparently slipped her mind, because she invited him into her home again.
She sold him brooches and jewellery for £700, and sometime afterwards Mr Collins visited a third time, walking in to the sitting room without permission.
“I went through after him and he was taking the Seago oil painting off the wall,” she said.
“I told him ‘that is not for sale, leave it alone’, but he took no notice. I was totally helpless.”
Mrs Carr said Mr Collins wanted to take it away for repairs.
Paintings returned
“I stopped for a moment before saying that I would get it repaired and that he should leave it. I told him that several times,” she said.
She said Mr Collins told her he would send her a copy while it was repaired.
“I said ‘Don’t bother’ and after he left I rang the police and my lawyers, saying it had been stolen and I wanted it back,” she added.
She later rang Mr Collins in an attempt to get it back. He told her the artwork was “now out of the country”, though police later retrieved it.
The watercolour – sold at auction for £4,200 – was also returned to Mrs Carr.
The trial continues.
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