Father and son 'stole and sold £1.5m of antiques' from Bedfordshire home

Gary Pickersgill and his father Des Pickersgill said the elderly woman had given them the items

Antiques worth more than £1.5m were stolen from a woman by her former gardener and his son, a court heard.

Des Pickersgill was a neighbour of the woman, whose Bedfordshire home was filled with valuable items including a painting by Picasso.

Luton Crown Court heard the 82-year-old and his son Gary Pickersgill secretly took and sold items from the 96-year-old's collection.

The pair deny theft, fraud and converting criminal property.

The woman's grandson photographed her collection in 2011

The elderly woman was being looked after by carers after having a stroke.

She had a collection of Chinese jade and ivory antiques in unlocked display cabinets at her home.

After her home was burgled in 2017, an antiques valuer appointed by Bedfordshire Police discovered a jade teapot thought to have be stolen in the raid had been sold in 2015 for more than £500,000, the court heard.

It became apparent other missing items had also been sold at an auction by Bonhams in the years prior to the burglary.

A jade teapot was sold for about £580,000 in 2015, the court heard

The jury was told an apple green jade bowl had been sold by Gary Pickersgill for £1m.

In a prepared statement after his arrests, the 42-year-old said he and his family had known the elderly widow for years and that he would do odd jobs for her.

Gary Pickersgill said the woman gave him items from her collection as payment for work he had done prior to 2011, the court heard.

The jury was told he said he contacted Bonhams about the items after watching a television programme and realising they were jade.

A jade brush washer was also part of the woman's collection, the court heard

It is alleged that between November 2011 and May 2017, dozens of jade and ivory antiques, porcelain ornaments and other valuable items were taken from the woman's home.

The prosecution said Gary Pickersgill and his wife Sarah Pickersgill went from being on the verge of eviction from their rented property in Bedford to purchasing a home with a swimming pool and paddocks in Spalding, Lincolnshire, before buying a hotel in Skegness.

Mrs Pickersgill told police she knew nothing about the sale of antiques and did not know where the money had come from to purchase the £410,000 house mortgage-free.

The jury was told items had been sold through accounts with Bonhams opened in the names of Des and Gary Pickersgill.

Proceeds from sales had been made to Des Pickersgill in the form of cheques from Bonhams, while his son is said to have received bank transfers to a joint account in his name and his wife's, the prosecution said.

A jade ram-head washer also featured in her collection

The jury heard in 2018 Gary Pickersgill enlisted the help of friends Kevin Wigmore and his wife Tracey Wigmore from Lincolnshire to open an account at Bonhams, through which three items of jade were sold for more than £63,000.

When questioned that year, Des Pickersgill said as well as being given items by the elderly woman, his own father had built up a collection of jade.

Des Pickersgill, of Clyde Crescent, Bedford, and Gary Pickersgill, of Saxby Avenue, Skegness, Lincolnshire, deny theft.

Along with Mr Wigmore, 47, and Mrs Wigmore, 49, of Sapphire Close, Orby near Skegness, they deny fraud relating to representations made to Bonhams.

The above four and Sarah Pickersgill deny converting criminal property.