Stolen paintings turn up in Cornwall (From Penarth Times)

Stolen paintings turn up in Cornwall

3:41pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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TWO paintings worth £12,000, that were stolen from a Penarth gallery, turned up in Cornwall this week.

The canvasses, painted by former St Cyres pupil Dan Llywelyn Hall who grew up in Barry, disappeared last September from an exhibition at the Washington Gallery.

A blonde woman entered the gallery and removed the two paintings, which were hanging just inside the door of the gallery.

Despite a £10,000 reward being offered for their safe return, they were not discovered - until turning up at a recent Cornwall and Devonshire Police auction.

The oil paintings, entitled Artisan's Pew and Folly, were set for an exhibition in the south of France before they were stolen.

Now Mr Llywelyn Hall, 27, is hoping to get them back for a display in London, where he now lives.

"I was stunned when I got the call to say they'd been found," said the former Sunday Times Young Artist of the Year, whose mum still lives in Barry.

"Apparently someone saw the auction on the internet, remembered my name and about the robbery, and called the police.

"I'd completely given up hope of getting them back, to be honest.

"But I think it'll be a while before I can exhibit them again because the police forensic guys want to take a look."

Meanwhile, a reward of £8,000 has been issued after another of the artist's paintings went missing.

The canvas - called Departing Brecon - was lost when a courier left it on the Tube.

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