‘Heist of the century’ suspect ‘meant to return paintings’

The man behind the theft in 2012 of three paintings, including a Picasso, from the National Gallery in Athens claimed to reporters he intended to sneak back into the gallery nine years after the so-called “heist of the century” and return the works, but never got round to it.

Giorgos Sarmatzopoulos, 50, was arrested last year and was released from pre-trial detention last week with an electronic tag.

“Whatever happened was done out of love for art,” he told reporters on Wednesday. His lawyer said the 50-year-old carried out the theft by himself. “It is simply not believable that such a theft was done by a single person and yet it happened,” he said.

He reportedly took advantage of lax security and stole Pablo Picasso’s “Head of a Woman,” Piet Mondrian’s “Stammer Windmill with Summer House” and Guglielmo Caccia’s “St Diego de Alcala in Ecstasy with the Holy Trinity and the Symbols of Passion.”