Has anyone else come across anything about this fellow who "called himself a communist but lived lavishly" ? K. Mickey
from The Scotsman Online, 13.Feb.1999
Fake masters of crooked genius fooled art world Scottish galleries may have been duped in 'Puppet Master's' fraud of the century NICK THORPE and MELVYN HOWE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A MANIPULATIVE genius nicknamed "The Puppet Master" was yesterday found guilty of masterminding the biggest contemporary art fraud this century, after a marathon 190-day trial.
In an elaborate international operation including the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, John Drewe, 50, made at least £1 million by selling hundreds of fake modern masters commissioned from an impoverished artist.
Scottish galleries were last night checking their records after Drewe claimed he had ventured north of the Border. Police believe anything he has come into contact with is suspect.
A colourful figure with an IQ of 165 and a trademark top-pocket handkerchief, Drewe bluffed his way into some of Britain's most prestigious gallery archives and inserted fake documents about supposedly "lost" masters, which he then produced for sale.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court heard that he made up to £100,000 a time by marketing the near worthless fakes, many of them produced in a few hours in an attic studio with household emulsion, lubricating jelly, varnish, and even the contents of a Hoover bag.
The scale of the fraud has embarrassed world-famous institutions and done little for the reputations of auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's, which unwittingly found buyers for some of the fakes.
Scientists, lawyers, medical doctors as well as fine art dealers and collectors all believed they were dealing with an expert in their fields after being taken in by a consumate "chameleon" able to change character effortlessly.
The father of two, who has a photographic memory, also lied his way into teaching jobs and duped an order of priests into believing they had once owned some of the imitations.
He called himself a communist but lived lavishly and drove a Bentley car, recruiting "runners" or frontmen to sell the paintings and keep a healthy distance between him and the marketplace he was cheating.
Yesterday, he showed little emotion as he was convicted in a string of guilty verdicts. The jury, took nearly six hours deciding unanimously to reject his "Alice in Wonderland" defence of shady arms deals, international intrigue and complex conspiracies.
Drewe, of Washington Close, Reigate, Surrey, will be sentenced on Monday.
He faces up to ten years imprisonment for one charge of conspiracy to defraud, two charges of forgery, and one each of theft and using a false instrument with intent. He was cleared of one charge of forgery.
John Myatt, 53, the poor but "highly skilled" artist Drewe recruited, will be sentenced with him. Myatt, of Corner House, Scughall, Stafford, pleaded guilty to the main conspiracy count, turned Queen's Evidence and became the prosecution's star witness.
A co-defendant, Daniel Stoakes, 52, a psychiatric nurse of Richmond Road, Exeter, was cleared of a single charge of conspiracy to defraud, which he had denied.
Myatt admitted he was short of cash when he placed a small ad in Private Eye in 1986, which read: "Genuine fakes. 19th and 20th Century painting done. Telephone ..."
Contacted by Drewe, orders for his work were soon flowing at £250 each, at a time when he faced mounting debts and a failing marriage.
He then became a willing partner in crime, opening a Swiss bank account to take his cut of the profits.
He told the court he found Drewe "hypnotising, challenging and very exciting", and enjoyed being wined and dined by him "like a big businessman" at expensive restaurants.
Drewe told him he was a Government-retained research scientist inspecting nuclear submarines, who worked for British intelligence - but eventually Myatt severed his links after becoming frightened of his violent bluster.
It was Drewe's common-law wife, Batsheva Goudsmid , who blew the whistle on him when she wrote to the Tate Gallery in 1995 after a bitter separation. Dealers also voiced concerns.
Detectives spent the next 18 months interviewing 200 people and poring over the bogus "cut and paste" documents which Drewe had created using forged signatures from respected figures in the art world.
After gaining access to gallery archives by giving a large donation, he would steal original documents and replace them with his own, giving a false provenance and validating forgeries he was about to offer for sale.
Det Sgt Jonathan Searle of the Metropolitan Police said: "It is certainly the biggest fraud of contemporary art of the 20th century. It was not just a case of faking art, but a well-conceived attempt to contaminate archive material in a number of internationally renowned institution."
He also warned that other galleries might wish to review their archives after Drewe claimed to have visited institutions in Scotland, Bradford and the West Country.
Anything that Drewe had come into contact with could not be trusted as genuine, because he was a master forger and a "historical revisionist", said Mr Searle.
Last night, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh confirmed they would be making checks. "As far as I know we haven't had any dealings with Mr Drewe," said a spokeswoman, Hazel Sutherland. "But I'm sure we'll go through the relevant procedures to ensure that everything is all right."
After Drewe had left the dock, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC was greeted with a collective sigh of relief from the jury of six women and five men, whom he praised for the "extraordinary attention" they had paid to the evidence over the 190-day trial. They would be excused from further jury service for life.
Throughout the case the courtroom resembled an art gallery with seven of the 200 fakes Myatt produced arranged against the wall opposite the jury.
They included one in the style of Ben Nicholson and two pastiche Sutherlands, including one Drewe had claimed was part of a series of preliminary sketches the modern master did in preparation for his famous Coventry Cathedral tapestry of Christ and Apostles. Others were supposed to have been by Alberto Giacometti, Roger Bissiere and Nicholas De Stael.
John Bevan QC, prosecuting, told the jury it was dealing with a "clever, intelligent and articulate" fraudster who had "distorted the truth at every turn".
His ability to defraud and deceive had been so feared by prosecution and police that after he sacked his top-flight legal team on day two of the trial - because he thought he could do a better job - he was forbidden to examine original case documents except under the closest supervision.
Mr Bevan said of Drewe's undoubted intelligence and the fraud he masterminded: "It was a waste of a clever, astute, hugely retentive brain. He has wasted himself on a lifestyle which has left a trail of victims in its wake."
©The Scotsman Publications Ltd