A 48-year-old Dublin woman has denied handling two paintings worth an estimated €2.6 million stolen from Rossborough House in Co Wicklow in 2001 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.
Rosemary Quinn of St Aongus Park, Tallaght, pleaded not guilty to handling the paintings, a Thomas Gainsborough entitled Madame Baccelliand a Bernardo Belotto entitled A View of Florence, from the Beit Collection on June 26, 2001.
According to the prosecution an analysis of phone records had led to the arrest of Ms Quinn at Whitehall in Dublin 12
A subsequent forensic examination of her car found flakes of gold paint which were later found to match that on the frames of the stolen paintings.
However, an art expert conceded that most paintings from the 18th Century would have had frames coated in this gold leaf.