Kempton Bunton was a disabled British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 pensioner who apparently stole Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...

's painting Portrait of the Duke of Wellington

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (Goya)

The Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is a painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya of the British general Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington during the latter's service in the Peninsular War...

from the National Gallery

National Gallery, London

The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1961.

The motive

Bunton was a retired bus driver who earned only £8 in 1961. In that year, Charles Wrightsman, a rich American art collector who made his money in the oil business, purchased Goya's painting Portrait of the Duke of Wellington for the sum of £140,000 ($390,000). He had plans to take it to the United States. The British Government decided to buy the painting for a sum of £140,000 to keep the painting on British soil. However, this move is reported to have enraged Bunton, who was embittered at having to pay the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Television licence

Television licence

A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...

 fee from his modest income.

Theft of the painting

According to his own account, from conversations with the guards, Bunton learned that the elaborate infra-red sensors/alarms of the electronic security system were turned off in the early morning to allow the cleaners to do their work. On the early morning of August 21, 1961, Bunton loosened a window in a toilet and entered the gallery. He prised off the framed painting from the display and escaped via the window.

The police initially assumed an expert art thief

Art theft

Art theft is usually for the purpose of resale or for ransom . Stolen art is sometimes used by criminals to secure loans.. One must realize that only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered. Estimates range from 5 to 10%. This means that little is known about the scope and characteristics of...

 to be behind the heist. However, a letter was sent to the Reuters

Reuters

Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

 news agency, asking for a donation of £140,000 to charity to allow the poor to pay for TV licences and an amnesty for the thief, for which the painting would be returned. However, this was declined.

The theft entered popular culture, as it was referenced in the 1962 James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film Dr. No

Dr. No (film)

Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...

. In the film, the painting was on display in Dr. No's lair.

Return and prosecution

In 1965, four years after the theft, Bunton contacted a newspaper, and through a left luggage office at Birmingham New Street Station

Birmingham New Street Station

Birmingham New Street is the main railway station serving Birmingham, England, located in the city centre. It is an important hub for the British railway system, being served by a number of important long-distance and cross-country lines, including the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line,...

, returned the painting voluntarily. Six weeks later, he also surrendered to the police, who initially discounted him as a suspect, considering the unlikeliness of a 61 year old retiree, who weighed 17 stone, executing the heist.

During the trial the jury only convicted Bunton of the theft of the frame (which was not returned). Led by Jeremy Hutchinson

Jeremy Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington

Jeremy Nicolas Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington QC is a British lawyer.-Education:Hutchinson was educated at Stowe School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in philosophy, politics and economics.-Career:He was Called to the Bar, Middle Temple in 1939...

 QC (also notable for his involvement on the defence team at the Lady Chatterley trial), Bunton's defence had successfully claimed that Bunton never wanted to keep the painting, thus meaning he was not convicted of stealing the portrait itself. Bunton was sentenced to 3 months in prison. Section 11

Removing article from place open to the public

Removing article from place open to the public is a statutory offence in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-England and Wales:This offence is created by section 11 of the Theft Act 1968...

 of the Theft Act 1968

Theft Act 1968

The Theft Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of offences against property in England and Wales.On 15 January 2007 the Fraud Act 2006 came into force, redefining most of the offences of deception.-History:...

, which makes it an offence to remove without authority any object displayed or kept for display to the public in a building to which the public have access, was enacted as a direct result of this case.

In 1996 documents released by the National Gallery implied that another individual may have carried out the actual theft, and then passed the painting to Bunton. Bunton's son John was mentioned in the documents.