Gardaí on prowl for cat burglar after art heist

GARDAÍ are on the prowl for a brazen cat burglar with heavy lifting skills after a very unusual art heist.

Without paws for thought, the muscle-bound thief strolled in to Gallery 23 in the heart of Kinsale town in Co Cork sometime on Monday and made off, somewhat slowly, with a very heavy marble sculpture of a cat.

The 20” long x 14” wide x 15” high sculpture was carved from Italian Carrara marble in Italy by gallery owner Philip French’s wife, Kate, over 16 years ago.

The cat is carved from the same dense marble from which Michelangelo carved his masterpiece, the statue of David.

Mr French reckons the cat weighs up to eight stone and wouldn’t have been easy for one person to carry alone.

“Whoever took it would have been bent double trying to carry it out,” Mr French said last night.

“It’s serious but I can see the funny side. But we’d very much like it back.

“It’s not so much for the monetary value of the piece — more the sentimental value of it to us.”

The piece had a price tag of €2,000 and had been on display on a granite plinth in the middle of the gallery space since it opened on the town’s Chairman’s Lane 16 years ago.

The gallery was busy on Monday with several visitors perusing the display space when the theft took place.

But Mr French said he didn’t realise the sculpture was missing until later in the day.

As a result, he says he can only tie the theft down to some time between 11am and 6pm.

He has reported the matter to gardaí in Kinsale who are investigating.

They have begun examining footage from CCTV cameras in the area in the hope of collaring a heavily-laden thief struggling along Kinsale’s winding lanes with a large marble cat under his arm.

Mr French appealed for anyone who saw anybody fitting the above description, or who saw anything unusual in and around his gallery on Monday, to contact the gardaí in Kinsale, or to phone his gallery at 021-4772241.