Legal action against Duke of Buccleuch over Da Vinci theft fails

Marshall Ronald had been seeking £4.25m from the Duke of Buccleuch

A former lawyer has lost his £4.25m legal claim against a Scottish aristocrat over the return of a stolen masterpiece.

Marshall Ronald claimed that he was owed the sum after Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder was recovered in 2007.

It was taken from Drumlanrig Castle, near Thornhill, four years earlier.

But a judge rejected the claim that he had brought against Richard Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch.

The Duke earlier told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that he became "an actor" in a police undercover operation to secure the return of a stolen masterpiece.

Lord Brailsford was asked to rule on whether the Duke gave authority to an undercover police officer, John Craig, to enter a contract which Mr Ronald sought to enforce.

The ex-solicitor claimed that under the contract Craig was authorised to negotiate the recovery of the painting on behalf of the Duke.

But the judge said on the basis of the evidence there was no consensual agreement of that kind between the undercover officer and the Duke.

Lord Brailsford said: "On the contrary the arrangements were no more than a scheme designed and controlled by the police in an attempt to obtain the return of the stolen property."

The Madonna of the Yarnwinder was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in 2003

In 2010 Mr Ronald was one of five men cleared at the High Court in Edinburgh of conspiring to extort £4.25m for the safe return of the painting.

In a statement released after the judgement, the Duke of Buccleuch said he was "very pleased" with the "unequivocal" judgement.

He added: "The theft of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder painting was deeply disturbing for my family and it is a matter of regret that court proceedings have continued over so many years.

"As was made clear in the evidence of three retired police officers as well as my own, my involvement in supporting the 'sting' operation which involved an undercover police officer was entirely at the request of and under the direction of the police.

"I pay tribute to their patience, persistence and courage in thus recovering the painting. The suggestion that, in doing what I did, I was somehow entering into an arrangement which could have been illegal has been absurd and I regret the waste of time and money that it has involved."

He said The Madonna of the Yarnwinder is now on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.

"I hope today's judgement will provide a closure to a long and heavily scrutinised process and that this supremely beautiful painting can be thought of for that rather than as a legal battleground," he added.