Brit Art warehouse blaze followed burglary

A warehouse which burned to the ground destroying priceless works of modern art was burgled shortly before the blaze broke out, British police said today.

The storage site, which was divided into 34 separate units, was raided some time before disaster struck at 3.40am on May 24.

One of the smaller units containing watches, computers and mobile phones was broken into and pinpointed as the seat of the fire.

Although the burgled unit did not contain the prized pieces of art, it was part of the overall complex razed in the fire.

Works by Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili and Jake and Dinos Chapman were among those destroyed in the flames in Leyton, east London.

About 100 “irreplaceable” works belonging to collector Charles Saatchi were among those being kept in the warehouse by specialist storage company Momart.

It took several days for the fire to be completely extinguished and police could not investigate the scene until it was deemed safe on May 29.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “It is now believed that the fire began in a particular unit. The warehouse had 34 units in total – two main ones and 32 smaller ones.

“One of the smaller units where the fire actually began appears to have suffered a burglary, but it is yet to be established if the fire was deliberately started.”

The spokeswoman said arson remained an option as police continued to work closely with forensic teams.

Momart, which is responsible for packaging and transporting works around the country, said it had met with police officers this afternoon.

Managing director Eugene Boyle said the company had not yet been able to access the site because police investigations were ongoing.

“Whilst they (the police) have not concluded their investigations, indications are that it started following a break-in to premises containing watches, computers and mobile phones.

“It was at the opposite end of the complex of business units from the Momart warehouse.”

Mr Boyle said he could not comment on the cause of the fire but confirmed two outdoor pieces of art from an adjacent Momart compound had been saved.

Details of the works or who owned them were not divulged.

“Sadly the rest of the works, those inside the warehouse, appear to have been destroyed.”

Mr Saatchi, a multi-millionaire collector, was described as “absolutely devastated” by the loss of his treasured pieces.

Dozens of other artists and collectors stored work at the warehouse.

They include Damien Hirst, who lost 16 paintings – several of his own butterfly and spin paintings and a number of others by artists such as Gary Hulme and Sarah Lucas.

Hirst’s 22ft bronze statue Charity, based on the old Spastic Society collection boxes, was also destroyed.

He recently auctioned it for charity and it belonged to another collector.

Emin’s tent entitled Everyone I Ever Slept With 1963-1995 was among the work lost. Mr Saatchi is thought to have paid £40,000 (€60,226) for the controversial artwork with 102 names in it.

Just days before the blaze Emin had removed 30 pieces of her own work from the storage to look at it.

Three years ago Mr Saatchi paid £500,000 (€752,891) for the Chapman brothers’ Hell sculpture, which is also confirmed lost.

The brothers, two of the UK’s most controversial artists, cast and hand-painted more than 5,000 figures, including skeletons, Nazi soldiers and human mutations.

They reacted to the news by saying the piece “was only art” and said they would make it again.