The head of France's top art collecting family should spend two years in prison and pay a €250 million (£225 million) fine for "the longest and most sophisticated fraud of the Fifth Republic", prosecutors have argued, as the trial comes to a close in Paris.

Guy Wildenstein and his entourage are accused of hiding scores of art masterpieces, racehorses and the Kenyan ranch from Out of Africa from the French taxman.

Tax authorities say they owe them around €550 million for squirreling away scores of works by artists such as Bonnard, Courbet and Picasso.

Their alleged bid to vastly play down the extent of his fortune via a web of opaque trusts and tax havens came to light thanks to a string of complaints from ex-wives and widows, who felt short-changed in divorce or inheritance settlements.