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Friend of Prince Charles fleeced by butler
A butler stole millions of pounds of valuables, including a Picasso, from a friend of Prince Charles to feed his gambling addiction.
Simon Dalton, 54, a former soldier, took items from the safe of Major Christopher Hanbury while working on the family’s estate in Hungerford, Berkshire, where he had been living rent-free on a salary of £19,000 a year.
Major Hanbury, 73, a former member of the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, is an old friend of the Prince of Wales and once hosted Prince Harry at his Argentinian polo estate, El Remanso.
The stolen items included a Picasso sketch and a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec, both valued at £650,000, and a painting by Bob Dylan worth £100,000. They have never been recovered having been sold on the black market. Three Fabergé eggs, Cartier watches and a Fabergé stamp were pawned for £40,000 but were later returned to the family.
Dalton had run up debts of £600,000 using a betting account, Manchester crown court was told. When his employers asked him about items that were missing, he would claim that they themselves had lost them, once saying: “You had that in your hand, don’t you remember?”
Simon Dalton stole a Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as a huge amount of jewellery and other items before going on the run
Simon Dalton stole a Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as a huge amount of jewellery and other items before going on the run
After the family told the butler they would install cameras in the safe, he panicked and fled the estate in a car belonging to them, leaving a note for his wife saying: “I can’t take it anymore, going to Scotland to clear my head for a few months.”
Dalton was arrested in France in January 2013 after setting up a safety deposit box in Lille. It was traced and found to contain a suitcase full of his clothing and £1.9 million worth of jewellery and gems that were returned.
David Farley, for the prosecution, told the court that £725,000 had been transferred to five bank accounts over three years and in that time he had spent £571,928 on a William Hill account.
Dalton, of Hale, Greater Manchester, had previously admitted six charges of theft. Jailing him for six years, Judge Martin Steiger, QC, described the offences as “grave”. “The defendant was a trusted steward for a wealthy family and he was entrusted with the upkeep of the house and the state of some of their financial affairs,” he said.
“Three extremely valuable and nearly priceless works of art have never been recovered. It is clear during this time they were pawned for cash to substantiate an exorbitant gambling problem. Mr Dalton attempted to place all of the blame on the Hanburys themselves and I reject the idea that he is remorseful at all.”
Major Hanbury’s wife Bridget, 68, said they had welcomed Dalton into their home and had “trusted him so much, they felt they could relax”.
She added: “We had a life of peaceful security before he came and acted in the way he did. He shattered it and we started questioning ourselves.”
A butler stole millions of pounds of valuables, including a Picasso, from a friend of Prince Charles to feed his gambling addiction.
Simon Dalton, 54, a former soldier, took items from the safe of Major Christopher Hanbury while working on the family’s estate in Hungerford, Berkshire, where he had been living rent-free on a salary of £19,000 a year.
Major Hanbury, 73, a former member of the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, is an old friend of the Prince of Wales and once hosted Prince Harry at his Argentinian polo estate, El Remanso.
The stolen items included a Picasso sketch and a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec, both valued at £650,000, and a painting by Bob Dylan worth £100,000. They have never been recovered having been sold on the black market. Three Fabergé eggs, Cartier watches and a Fabergé stamp were pawned for £40,000 but were later returned to the family.
Dalton had run up debts of £600,000 using a betting account, Manchester crown court was told. When his employers asked him about items that were missing, he would claim that they themselves had lost them, once saying: “You had that in your hand, don’t you remember?”
Simon Dalton stole a Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as a huge amount of jewellery and other items before going on the run
Simon Dalton stole a Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as a huge amount of jewellery and other items before going on the run
After the family told the butler they would install cameras in the safe, he panicked and fled the estate in a car belonging to them, leaving a note for his wife saying: “I can’t take it anymore, going to Scotland to clear my head for a few months.”
Dalton was arrested in France in January 2013 after setting up a safety deposit box in Lille. It was traced and found to contain a suitcase full of his clothing and £1.9 million worth of jewellery and gems that were returned.
David Farley, for the prosecution, told the court that £725,000 had been transferred to five bank accounts over three years and in that time he had spent £571,928 on a William Hill account.
Dalton, of Hale, Greater Manchester, had previously admitted six charges of theft. Jailing him for six years, Judge Martin Steiger, QC, described the offences as “grave”. “The defendant was a trusted steward for a wealthy family and he was entrusted with the upkeep of the house and the state of some of their financial affairs,” he said.
“Three extremely valuable and nearly priceless works of art have never been recovered. It is clear during this time they were pawned for cash to substantiate an exorbitant gambling problem. Mr Dalton attempted to place all of the blame on the Hanburys themselves and I reject the idea that he is remorseful at all.”
Major Hanbury’s wife Bridget, 68, said they had welcomed Dalton into their home and had “trusted him so much, they felt they could relax”.
She added: “We had a life of peaceful security before he came and acted in the way he did. He shattered it and we started questioning ourselves.”
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19K salary and on hand to run around after em like a blue arsed fly no doubt.
Lording it with egregious wealth and give him a pittance and he goes rogue allegedly. How will they cope ffs |
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Here is The Hanbury's holiday retreat when not 'slumming' it in Berkshire.....
. http://www.elremansopolo.com/casa_homepage.html |
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If I had a Picasso and a Toulouse-Lautrec, I'd like to think I'd notice if one day there were bare spaces on the walls.
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19K salary and on hand to run around after em like a blue arsed fly no doubt.
£19k and free accommodation which must be worth another few quid depending on rent levels in Berkshire. I've no idea what the going rate is for butlers but tbh what I don't like about this excuse is the implication that *I* can't be trusted because I earn less than some threshold value. He was not a lovable rogue stealing trinkets to feed his starving bairns. And since he was caught with £2 million in jewellery, and had only given Hills two thirds of what he'd had in cash, not even the gambling addiction excuse holds water. |
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Poor form from the butler. Surely it is the divine right of the landowner to lose it all gambling.
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Poor form from the butler. Surely it is the divine right of the landowner to lose it all gambling.
Wasn't it said Ladbrokes grew rich relieving young aristocrats of their inheritances? (Or some such.) |
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Be nice to have so much wealth that you do not to notice when £2m goes missing.
There are no winners in a case like this unless you are a bookie  |
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If the bookies had to pay back stolen stakes (proven in court), then perhaps their vetting processes might well sharpen up......
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Through out history landed gentry have made a crust by placing themselves close to monarchies, and being rewarded for showing peasants where they are supposed to die for them.
Theft is theft and wrong....but there are many different types, all of which have knock on effects. |