Friday, 4 June 2004
A warehouse that burned to the ground in east London, destroying priceless works of modern art, was burgled shortly before the blaze broke out, police said yesterday.
A warehouse that burned to the ground in east London, destroying priceless works of modern art, was burgled shortly before the blaze broke out, police said yesterday.
One of the smaller units at the complex, which included the specialist art storage company Momart, was raided some time before the blaze took hold at 3.40am on 24 May.
The unit, thought to have contained watches, computers and mobile phones, was broken into and has been pinpointed as the seat of the fire. Although the burgled unit did not contain the prized pieces of art, it was part of the overall complex in Leyton razed by the fire.
About 100 "irreplaceable" works belonging to collector Charles Saatchi including pieces by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili and Jake and Dinos Chapman were reduced to ashes. It took several days for the fire to be completely extinguished and police could not investigate the scene until it was deemed safe on 29 May.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "It is now believed that the fire began in a particular unit. The warehouse had 34 units in total - two main ones and 32 smaller ones.
"One of the smaller units where the fire actually began appears to have suffered a burglary but it is yet to be established if the fire was deliberately started."
The spokeswoman said that arson remained an option as to the cause of the fire and police are continuing to investigate - working closely with forensic teams at the site.
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