View source for Kempton Bunton

{{Short description|English pensioner accused of art theft (1904–1976)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Kempton Bunton
| birth_name  = Kempton Bunton
| birth_date  = 14 June 1904<ref name="NatlGallArchiveNGA26">{{cite archive |last= The [[National Gallery]] Staff |item = Hugh Courts's Papers relating to the Trial of Kempton Bunton [Archive Description] |item-url= |type= |item-id= |date= 1958–1966 |page= |pages= |fonds= |series= |file= |box= |collection= NGA26 |collection-url= https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/research-centre/archive/record/NGA26 |repository= |institution= The [[National Gallery]] |location = London, England |oclc= |accession= | access-date = 14 December 2022 | quote = Kempton Bunton was born 14 June 1904 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He left school at 13 and joined the Merchant Navy for about two months. He spent eighteen months in Australia between 1926 and 1927 and on his return to England was employed in a variety of jobs including labourer and taxi driver. He had five children, including three sons, Kenneth, Thomas and John. / ... - Two offences contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act 1916 by unlawfully taking the property of the Trustees of the National Gallery by stealing the portrait of the Duke of Wellington and stealing the frame. - Two offences of demanding money with menace by sending threatening letters to Lord Robbins, Trustee of the National Gallery, and to the Daily Mirror Newspaper - One offence of Public Nuisance as the unlawful removal of the portrait, prevented the public from viewing the painting ... / The case was initially heard at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in August 1965 and was referred to trial at the Central Criminal Court between 4 and 16 November 1965... / Bunton was found guilty of stealing the frame, which had not been returned, and he was sentenced to three months imprisonment at H.M. Prison Ford.}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England<ref name="NatlGallArchiveNGA26" />
| death_date  = April 1976
| death_place = Newcastle upon Tyne, England
| criminal_charge = Offence contrary to Section 2 of the [[Larceny Act 1916]] [unlawfully taking property of the Trustees of the [[National Gallery]] by stealing the frame of the portrait of the [[Duke of Wellington]]]<ref name="NatlGallArchiveNGA26" /><ref name="Scotsman20220228" />
| conviction_penalty = 3 mos. imprisonment<ref name="Scotsman20220228" />
| spouse      = {{marriage|Dorothy Donnelly|1925|1974|end=died}}    
| children    = 5<ref name="NatlGallArchiveNGA26" /><ref name="Scotsman20220228" />
| trial       = Bow Street Magistrates' Court (August 1965)<br>Central Criminal Court         
| trial_start = 4 November 1965
| trial_end   = 16 November 1965
| imprisoned  = [[HM Prison Ford]]<ref name="NatlGallArchiveNGA26" />
}} 

'''Kempton Bunton''' (14 June 1904–April 1976) was an [[United Kingdom|English]] man who confessed to taking [[Francisco Goya]]'s painting ''[[Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (Goya)|Portrait of the Duke of Wellington]]'' from the [[National Gallery]] in [[London]] in 1961.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news | author = BBC Staff | date = 23 August 2004 | title=Greatest Heists in Art History |work=[[BBC.com]] | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3590106.stm | access-date = 14 December 2004 | quote = <!--Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington was in the news after the UK government frantically assembled enough money to stop it being bought by a foreign collector. / But its high profile made it an attractive target and -->...an unemployed driver, Kempton Bunton, admitted going into the National Gallery through an open window and going out with the painting under his arm. / He said he wanted to use the ransom money to buy television licences for the poor and he served three months in jail. But papers released by the National Gallery in 1996 revealed that he was probably innocent.}}</ref><ref name="Scotsman20220228">{{cite news | author = Falk, Graham | date = 28 February 2022 | title = The Duke: What Happened to Kempton Bunton, is Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent Film The Duke a True Story? | newspaper = [[Scotsman.com]]  | url = https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/the-duke-what-happened-to-kempton-bunton-and-is-the-duke-a-true-story-3581162 | access-date = 14 December 2022 | quote =}}</ref><ref name="nicita05">{{cite journal |last1=Nicita |first1=Antonio |last2=Rizzolli |first2=Matteo |title=The Economics of Art Thefts: Too Much Screaming over Munch's The Scream |journal=Economic Papers |date=December 2009 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=291–303 |url=https://www.matteorizzolli.name/resources/publications/Nicita-Rizzolli-The-Economics-of-Art-Thefts.pdf |access-date=6 December 2024 |publisher=The Economic Society of Australia |via=MatteoRizzolli.name}}</ref> The story of Bunton and the painting was the subject of the October 2015 [[BBC Radio 4]] drama ''Kempton and the Duke'', and the 2020 film ''[[The Duke (2020 film)|The Duke]]''.

A [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|National Archives]] file, released in 2012, revealed that Bunton's son John had confessed to the theft in 1969.

==The National Gallery burglary==
[[File:Francisco Goya - Portrait of the Duke of Wellington.jpg|right|thumb|220px|''[[Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (Goya)|Portrait of the Duke of Wellington]]'', by [[Francisco Goya|Goya]] (1812–14), allegedly stolen by Bunton]]
===Motive===
Bunton was a disabled, retired bus driver who earned £8 a week in 1961 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|8|1961|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK}}<ref name="swindle">{{cite book | author = Steele, Sean P. | date = 1995 | title = Heists: Swindles, Stickups, and Robberies that Shocked the World | location = New York, NY | publisher = Metro Books | pages = 74–78 | isbn = 1856277062 | url = https://archive.org/details/heistsswindlesst0000stee/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater | access-date = February 6, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Matthew |title=The Duke: film made of Kempton Bunton's theft of Goya's Duke of Wellington portrait |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/art/article/the-duke-film-made-of-kempton-buntons-theft-of-goyas-duke-of-wellington-portrait-k5z3bs5bw |access-date=26 January 2021 |work=[[The Times]] |date=30 October 2019}}</ref> In that year, [[Charles Bierer Wrightsman]], a rich American art collector, who made his money in the oil business, purchased Goya's painting ''Portrait of the Duke of Wellington'' from [[John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds]] for the sum of £140,000 ($390,000) ({{Inflation|UK|140000|1961|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). He had plans to take it to the United States.<ref name="forbes">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2006/09/01/munch-art-theft_cx_db_0901artthefts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223043709/http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2006/09/01/munch-art-theft_cx_db_0901artthefts.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 February 2007 |title=World's Greatest Art Heists |magazine=[[Forbes]] |date=1 September 2006}}</ref> The [[British Government]] decided to buy the painting, for the same sum, to prevent the painting leaving Britain. The move was reported to have enraged Bunton, however, who objected to the [[Television licensing in the United Kingdom|television licence fee]], considering that television should be made available to everybody who needed it. He had campaigned for free television licences for pensioners and had been imprisoned several times for refusing to pay for a licence.<ref name="sillito" />

===Theft===
{{refimprove section | date = December 2022}}
According to his own account, Bunton learnt from conversations with guards at the [[National Gallery]] that the elaborate electronic security system of [[infrared]] sensors and alarms was deactivated in the early morning to allow for cleaning. Bunton claimed that on the early morning of 21 August 1961 he had loosened a window in a toilet and entered the gallery. He further claimed that he had then prised the framed painting from the display and escaped via the window.<ref name="swindle" />{{verification needed | date = December 2022}}{{better source | date = December 2022}}

The police initially assumed that an expert [[art theft|art thief]] was responsible.{{fact | date = December 2022}} A letter was received by the [[Reuters]] news agency, however, requesting a donation of £140,000 to charity to pay for television licences for poorer people, and demanding an amnesty for the thief, after which the painting would be returned.{{fact | date = December 2022}} The request was declined.{{fact | date = December 2022}}

===Return and prosecution===
In 1965, four years after the theft, Bunton contacted a newspaper and, through a [[left-luggage]] office at [[Birmingham New Street railway station]], returned the painting voluntarily. Six weeks later, he also surrendered to the police, who initially discounted him as a suspect, considering it unlikely that a 61-year-old retiree, weighing {{convert|17|stone|lb kg}}, could have carried out the theft.<ref name="nicita05" /><ref name="swindle" />{{verification needed | date = December 2022}}{{better source | date = December 2022}}

During the subsequent trial, the jury convicted Bunton only of the theft of the frame, which had not been returned. Bunton's defence team, led by [[Jeremy Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington|Jeremy Hutchinson]] QC, successfully claimed that Bunton never wanted to keep the painting, which meant he could not be convicted of stealing it.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sandy|last=Nairne|author-link=Sandy Nairne|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/art-theft-duke-wellington-goya|title=From the National Gallery to Dr No's lair|date=6 August 2011|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Bunton was sentenced to and served three months in prison.<ref name="swindle" />{{verification needed | date = December 2022}}{{better source | date = December 2022}} 

===Subsequent confession, actions and legacy===
In 1996, documents released by the National Gallery implied that another person may have carried out the theft, and then passed the painting to Bunton. Bunton's son John was mentioned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arttheftcentral.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-insights-into-old-art-theft.html |title=Art Theft Central |access-date=22 November 2017 |date=13 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005230600/http://arttheftcentral.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-insights-into-old-art-theft.html |archive-date=5 October 2011}}</ref> In 2012, following a [[Freedom of Information Act 2000|Freedom of Information]] request by Richard Voyce, and with the assistance of [[Sarah Teather]] MP, the National Archives released a confidential file from the [[Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales)|Director of Public Prosecutions]] in which it was revealed that Bunton's son, John, had confessed to the theft following his arrest in 1969 for an unrelated minor offence. John Bunton said that his father had intended to use the painting as part of his campaign and that it would ultimately have been returned to the National Gallery. He said that both he and his brother, Kenneth, had been ordered by their father not to come forward despite the trial.<ref name="Travis">{{cite news|first=Alan|last=Travis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/30/1961-goya-crime-national-gallery|title=Revealed: 1961 Goya 'theft' from National Gallery was a family affair|date=30 November 2012|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Sir [[Norman Skelhorn]], the [[Director of Public Prosecutions]], reviewed the case and concluded that prosecutions either against John Bunton or against his father would be unlikely to succeed and no further action was taken against either.<ref name="nickel">{{cite web|url=http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2014/05/kempton-bunton-and-the-great-goya-heist-at-the-national-gallery/ |title=Kempton Bunton and the Great Goya Heist at the National Gallery |website=Another Nickel In The Machine |date=9 May 2014 |access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref>

In a direct response to the case, [[Removing article from place open to the public|Section 11]] of the [[Theft Act 1968]] was enacted, making it an offence to remove without authority any object displayed or kept for display to the public in a building to which the public have access.<ref name="ministry">{{cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78352/Report_AdPanel_Illicit_Trade.pdf |title=Report: Ministerial Advisory Panel on Illicit Trade |publisher=British Department for Culture, Media and Sport |page=15 |date=December 2000}}</ref>{{primary source inline | date = December 2022}}

Bunton's wife Dorothy Clasper Bunton (née Donnelly) died in 1974. Bunton himself died in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in April 1976, aged 71.<ref name="Messenger">{{cite web | author = Messenger, Robert | date = 13 April 2022 | title = The Duke' and the Remington Portable Typewriter | work = The Wonderful World of Typewriters [OZTypewriter.blogspot.com] | url = https://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-duke-and-remington-portable.html | access-date = 14 December 2022}}</ref> His death went largely unreported and there were no obituaries in the major newspapers.<ref name="nickel" />

==In popular culture==
Bunton's purported theft and the disappearance of the Goya work entered popular culture. In the 1962 [[James Bond]] film ''[[Dr. No (film)|Dr. No]]'', the painting is displayed in Dr. No's lair, with lead actor [[Sean Connery]] pausing before it.<ref name="forbes" /> In ''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]'', episode 6 of series 2, "[[Culture for the Masses]]", refers to aspects of the case.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} In 2015, the comedy drama ''Kempton and the Duke'' by [[David Spicer (writer)|David Spicer]] was broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]].<ref name="BBC Radio 4">{{cite episode |title=Kempton and the Duke |series=Radio 4 drama |credits=Writer: [[David Spicer (writer)|David Spicer]]; Kempton Bunton: [[Kevin Whately]]; Producer: Liz Anstee |network=BBC |station=[[BBC Radio 4]] |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06flmdp |airdate=6 October 2015 |access-date=21 November 2017}}</ref>

The story of the theft and the subsequent trial of Bunton was dramatised in the film ''[[The Duke (2020 film)|The Duke]]'', starring [[Jim Broadbent]] and [[Helen Mirren]],<ref name="theduke">{{cite web |title=The Duke - opening 22 April 2022 |url=https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/theduke/  |publisher=Sony Pictures Classics |access-date=25 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="sillito">{{Cite news |title=The Duke: Why my family stole a masterpiece portrait |last=Sillito |first=David |website=BBC News |date=25 February 2022 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60413468}}</ref> which premiered in UK cinemas on 25 February 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brew |first1=Simon |title=The Duke finally getting a UK cinema release |url=https://www.filmstories.co.uk/news/the-duke-finally-getting-a-uk-cinema-release/ |website=Film Stories |access-date=16 December 2021 |language=en |date=8 November 2021}}</ref> Coinciding with the release of the film, Christopher Bunton revealed previously unknown details about his grandfather's theft, including the family's side of the story.<ref name="sillito" />

==See also==
*[[Vincenzo Peruggia]] (who stole the Mona Lisa)

==References==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunton, Kempton}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:English people with disabilities]]
[[Category:British people convicted of theft]]