McCartney Times

Police are trying to find the owners of thirty drawings by John Lennon seized from a gallery and thought to be linked to a jailed art dealer.

The huge collection of official prints of sketches and paintings of people and animals were created by the former Beatle.

But they have now been discovered by officers investigating Jonathan Poole who was jailed this week for making hundreds of thousands of pounds in illegal sales.

Police say the art was taken from a gallery in Cumbria — a county in northern England — where they were bought in good faith.

But it is now feared they originated from Poole who worked for the estate of Lennon and with Yoko Ono for many years.

Poole, 69, was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday for defrauding clients — including Dire Straits bassist John Illsley — of over $680,000.

None of the 32 Lennon pieces — worth around $1,000 to $1,300 each — are linked to Poole’s charges. Yoko Ono and John Lennon on December 1968.Getty Images

But it is now feared by police that he may be behind their sale.

They were found in another art dealer’s studio in Cumbria and seized, but they were previously possessed by Poole.

The collection included colorful screen prints such as “A Bird Dreaming,” an abstract image of a yellow bird perched on a branch against a wintry backdrop.

Others were black and white doodles such as “Manhattan Diary” which depicts Lennon writing while sitting in his office.

There is also a painting by Sebastian Kruger, worth between $4,000 and $5,400, and a self-portrait by Ronnie Wood, worth around $2,700.

A police spokesman said: “A member of the public contacted police after they had seen artwork they owned being sold at auction.”

”This information was followed up which led to an art dealer living in Cumbria and the artwork was seized.”

“We are now appealing for the owners to come forward so we can reunite them with their art as we believe they were sold on without their knowledge.”

“We won’t be taking further action against the dealer in Cumbria as we believe these items were purchased in good faith and a criminal offence has not been committed.”

Poole, of Poulton, Gloucestershire — a village 80 miles west of London — worked with stars, selling, buying and touring art across the world.

But the dealer started selling work “to fund a gambling habit, or to stash away money for later life or fund a lifestyle he couldn’t afford” in 1986.

Instead of passing on the cash to wealthy business clients he was supposed to be working for the “professional thief” pocketed the cash himself.

Poole, an accomplished painter, even sold art he was supposed to be simply storing or touring — sometimes for a fraction of its true value.

One piece — a $96,000 portrait of Kate Moss by artist Sebastian Krüger — was sold to a pub where a customer stabbed it with a steak knife.

A total of nine victims were fleeced out of at least $590,315 over 27 years, but prosecutors said it could be far more due to pieces of work or unknown value, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Poole admitted 26 charges with 32 allowed to sit on file.

Source: Police seek true owners of seized John Lennon art trove | New York Post