A drug dealer who was caught with a £1m stolen painting and a £450,000 stash of cocaine and ecstasy has been jailed for eight years and eight months.

Harry Fisher, 28, of Kingston upon Thames, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and acquiring criminal property.

He also admitted a charge of handling stolen goods after the painting, titled Cookham from Englefield, was found in his home.

The work, by Sir Stanley Spencer, had been stolen from the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham, Berkshire, in 2012.

Detectives arrested Fisher on 15 June after they stopped a Mercedes in a residential road in Strood, Kent.


Inside they found one kilogram of cocaine and £30,000 in cash.

Image: Zak Lal was jailed for more than five years

A passenger in the vehicle, 32-year-old Zak Lal, of Strood, Rochester, was arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs and acquiring criminal property.

He also admitted a charge of possession of an offensive weapon after he was found with a knife when he was arrested.

Lal was jailed for five years and eight months at the same hearing on Friday.

The home addresses of both men were later searched by police and officers found three kilograms of cocaine and 15,000 ecstasy tablets in Fisher's flat in Kingston.

A further quantity of class A drugs and £40,000 in cash was found in a separate search at Fisher's family address in Fulham.

The total street value of the drugs was estimated to be £450,000.

Detective Inspector Andy Whitewood said: "These two men were caught in possession of a considerable amount of class A drugs as the result of a proactive investigation targeting high end, organised drug supply.

"A search of Fisher's address revealed a stolen £1m painting, this demonstrates the link between drugs trafficking and serious, acquisitive crime."

A spokesman for the Stanley Spencer Gallery said its volunteers were "immensely grateful" for the recovery of the painting.