Stolen portrait of Sir Winston Churchill one step closer to returning home

The famed scowling portrait of Sir Winston Churchill has been returned to Canadian hands, with the photo turned over to representatives in a ceremony in Rome on Thursday.

Canadian Cultural Heritage Deputy Minister Isabelle Mondou, Fairview Chateau Laurier general manager Genevieve Dumas and Canada’s ambassador to Italy Elissa Goldberg met with Nicola Cassinelli, the man who bought what he didn’t know was a stolen portrait, to retrieve the photograph.

“This is a fantastic day,” Dumas said in an interview with Global News. “It’s just wonderful news to finally see the portrait that’s been gone for two-and-a-half years and to actually see the official portrait that’s been donated to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier by Karsh himself in 1998.

“It was emotional, I have to say, a lot of people were tearing up. We might think it’s just a photo but it’s not, it’s part of Canadian heritage, it’s part of Fairmont Chateau Laurier heritage, so it was just truly amazing.

The portrait, known as The Roaring Lion, is believed to have been stolen sometime between Christmas Day in 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022, according to Canadian law enforcement, but it wasn’t discovered stolen until August 2022.

Before that discovery, police said, the portrait was sold at an auction house in London and bought by Cassinelli without any knowledge of its theft.

Last week, police announced they tracked down the portrait and arrested and charged a man in the theft.

Jeffrey Iain James Wood, from Powassan, Ont., has been charged with theft and trafficking of the portrait, with additional charges of forgery and mischief causing damage to property exceeding $5,000.

Ottawa police had initially said his name was covered by a publication ban, but later said they had reviewed the ban