HBJ Gately Wareing partners Calum Jones and David Boyce, and sole practitioner Marshall Ronald, have been cleared of attempting to extort £4.25m for the safe return of a Leonardo Da Vinci painting.
The Madonna of the Yardwinder, which is owned by the Duke of Buccleuch and valued between £30m–£50m, was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in 2003. The solicitors and two others claimed they were acting as intermediaries for the robbers and planned to return the painting. They have asked for reward money for their role in retrieving the masterpiece, in a case which had beaten the police.




