Vjeran Tomic and two others sentenced and fined for stealing five 20th-century masterpieces from Musée d’Art Moderne

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A burglar known as Spider-Man has been jailed in Paris for eight years after one of the most daring art heists in recent years.



Vjeran Tomic and two accomplices were also fined €104m (£88.6m) over the theft of a Matisse, a Picasso, a Braque, a Léger and a Modigliani from the Musée d’Art Moderne in 2010.

The five artworks, estimated to be worth more than €100m, are still missing. Tomic, 49, was arrested in May 2011 and admitted carrying out the heist.

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Jean-Michel Corvez, 61, an antique dealer accused of ordering the heist, and Yonathan Birn, 40, a watch dealer who hid the paintings, were sentenced to seven and six years in prison respectively.

Tomic was accused of cutting through a padlocked gate and breaking a window to enter the gallery, one of the most-visited in the French capital.

Three guards were on duty, but the paintings were only found to be missing from their frames the next day. The museum’s alarms had been awaiting repair for several weeks.

Tomic told police officers he had come for Fernand Léger’s Still Life with Candlestick from 1922, not thinking he would also be able to steal another four works.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Matisse’s Pastoral from 1905. Photograph: Universal News And Sport/EPA

The other works stolen were Pablo Picasso’s Dove with Green Peas from 1912, Henri Matisse’s Pastoral from 1905, George Braque’s Olive Tree near Estaque from 1906, and Amedeo Modigliani’s Woman with a Fan from 1919.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Modigliani’s Woman with a Fan from 1919. Photograph: Reuters

All but the Modigliani were in the same room in the museum, home to more than 8,000 works of 20th-century art.

Tomic said he took the paintings because he liked them.

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Athletically built and 6ft 2ins tall, Tomic gained his nickname by clambering into Parisian apartments and museums to steal valuable gems and works of art.

Prosecutors claim he was spotted by a homeless man as he roamed around the Musée d’Art Moderne in the days leading to the theft.

Police arrested Tomic after an anonymous tipoff and tracking his mobile phone.

There has been a spate of art thefts in Europe in recent years. One of the most recent, in 2015, involved the theft of five Francis Bacon paintings worth €25m in Madrid.

Spanish police arrested seven people last year suspected of being involved in the theft.