During Charles Hill’s career he has recovered works from Munch’s The Scream to Vermeer’s Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. As one of the country’s most respected art detectives, he is particularly dismayed by the fact that in there remain 80,000 unrecovered pieces in the UK over the past 30 years.
According to Hill, the legislation has “stymied the police in dealing with informants”.
“The police just do not specialise. Compared with forces in other countries, the UK police are embarrassing and inadequate,” he continued.
In spite of the fact the London is home to the largest art market in Europe, there are only three detectives specifically dedicated to art crime. To put this in context, Italy has over 300 dedicated officers, and the US has 20 special agents for art crimes.
The Art Loss Register has record of 30,000 pieces lost in the UK in the past seven years. These include the recent haul from Christ Church college, Oxford. The Association of Chief Police Officers estimates that some £300 million worth of art is stolen in Britain each year.
Chief executive of Art Recovery International, Christopher Marinello, believes that the UK ought to use to Italian system as “the model for every other police force with respect to cultural heritage crime”.
Marinello has been responsible for the recovery of over £400 million worth of art during his career. He notes that Italy are leaders: “Because the Italian state — as difficult a financial position that it’s in — feels that the resources should be spent in arts and culture.
“Whereas in the UK in the US and elsewhere that’s just not the case. I have been working with the Metropolitan police on cases for over 30 years and [they’ve] got two officers and a part timer in London working in art crime. This is a major centre of the art world, it’s embarrassing.”
A statement from the Home Office was issued, which read: “The use of informants by police forces plays an important role in the prevention and detection of crime, and is rightly subject to strict controls.
“It is an operational matter for individual police forces to ensure that their use of informants is effective, necessary and proportionate.”
