Stolen masterpieces 'found in mental hospital car park'

Police refused to comment today on reports that four stolen paintings worth around €119m had been found in the car park of a Swiss mental hospital 500 yards from where they were taken.

The four Impressionist works were stolen from a private museum nine days ago by an armed gang.

Swiss media quoted unidentified eye witnesses as saying two or three of the pictures were seen on the back seat of a white car found unlocked in Zurich’s Psychiatric University Clinic.

A large police operation followed its discovery with the hospital grounds sealed off and forensic experts going over the vehicle meticulously before it was towed away.

Police had said initially that a white vehicle may have been used by the three robbers when they escaped with the four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet from the E.G. Buehrle Collection.

Interpol, which has been co-ordinating the international search for the paintings, said it was unable to comment on any developments because that would be up to Swiss authorities.

A Zurich police spokeswoman confirmed that a suspicious car had been found at the clinic, but declined to say more than that there might be a connection to the robbery.

The mass-circulation daily Blick and the local TV station TeleZuri quoted a witness as saying that the car contained three paintings bearing the name of the museum. The picture on top was Claude Monet’s “Poppy field at Vetheuil”.

The other pictures stolen were Edgar Degas’ “Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter”, Vincent van Gogh’s “Blooming Chestnut Branches” and Paul Cezanne’s “Boy in the Red Waistcoat”.