Family threatened in £1.7m Lowry raid, court told

• Robbers held art dealer and wife at knifepoint
• Painting worth £700,000 among gang's haul
LS Lowry's The Viaduct
LS Lowry's painting The Viaduct, worth £700,000, was stolen in the robbery. Photograph: PA

A gang carried out an audacious and carefully planned robbery at the home of an art dealer specialising in the work of LS Lowry, taking paintings worth up to £1.7m, a court heard yesterday.

Ivan Aird, whose parents were friends of the painter and whom he knew as a child, was targeted at his home in Cheadle, Cheshire, because the paintings were "highly collectible and highly valuable," Manchester crown court was told.


Prosecutor Michael Leeming said the gang's haul of original works by Lowry, art memorabilia and paintings by other artists was worth between £1.3m and £1.7m.

He told the jury Lowry was an artist "famous, of course, for capturing an era of individuals and landscapes that are largely lost to us".

Aird, 42, had developed a specialism for his works. His company, Grove Fine Art, advertised on the internet, but he did not publicise his home address because it was effectively a gallery.

The court heard Casey Miller, 23, called at Aird's home on the morning of 3 May 2007 dressed as a postman in a long fluorescent orange jacket. Aird's wife, Louise, answered the door with her two-year-old daughter in her arms and was pushed by Miller, who was brandishing a 10-inch chef's knife near her face. He forced her to the ground and threatened to kill her. After he forced his way in, three accomplices, one wearing a balaclava, entered the house.

Aird told the court he rushed downstairs after hearing his wife and daughter, Sabrina, screaming. He was then pushed to the ground by the gang, and his wrists were tied behind his back and a knife held to his throat.

"I tried to turn my head up, so they stuck the knife in front of my face," said Aird. "It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying. I thought they were going to kill us."

His wife, 41, told the court how she saw the robbers going from room to room grabbing the paintings. She said they "kept going into the different rooms downstairs and kept coming out of the rooms with paintings".

She said The Viaduct was leaning on the wall by the living room, where it had been hanging, and she saw one of the men walking past her holding Tanker Entering the Tyne. She told the court one of the robbers asked her: "Where's the big one?" - thought to be a reference to The Viaduct - but her husband replied: "You've already got it." The men also demanded money and access to a safe, but Aird told them there was no safe and he only had £3 cash. The gang then cut the telephone line in the hall and fled.

As well as The Viaduct, a painting of an unknown viaduct, and Tanker Entering the Tyne, painted in Tynemouth where Lowry used to holiday, a number of smaller works were also stolen. These included Maryport, A Doctor's Surgery, Bridge at Ringley, painted in 1926 and worth "around £50,000", and Street Market, a line drawing from 1924.

A palette with brushes underneath which belonged to Lowry was also taken. It was the only one in existence and had the artist's paint on its surface. None of the items have been recovered.

Aird told the court: "They're just pictures at the end of the day, life's more important. We have already lost one son, we have got one daughter and when they were threatening to kill her, the main thing is my wife is OK and my daughter's OK."

The court heard Louise Aird had provided police with details for an e-fit with an "extremely good likeness" to Miller. During an identity parade, she said she was "99% sure" he was one of the robber after picking him out in the line-up. The prosecution said she observed him at close quarters for several minutes and it was not a fleeting glimpse.

When questioned by detectives, Miller said he "didn't know LS Lowry's works from Adam". Miller from Denton, Manchester, denies robbery.

The trial continues.

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