£900 painting ‘thrown on tip’

Terry Crossley.

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

Artist hopes for its safe return

AN artist who lent a valuable painting to a friend has been told it was thrown on a tip after his death.

Terry Crossley, of Delph, tried to track the painting down after he learned his friend had died.

But he was told by First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) he had no legal right to any property left in the Trajan House flat without the tenant’s permission, and as that seemed not to be the case, he will be given no more information on the issue.

Mr Crossley told the Chronicle it was “inconceivable” that his painting has been thrown on a tip. He has now appealed for anyone who knows where it might be to give it back.

He said he lent it to a friend, Gary Prescott, on the understanding he would return it if the artist wanted to exhibit or sell it.

Mr Crossley said: “Gary lodged at my house for a while. When he moved out, he asked if I could loan him one of my original oil paintings to help him furnish his flat.

“We were extremely good friends so I said he could take his pick.”

He chose a painting of the Christian martyr, St Sebastian, which was painted around 2007 and won an award for Mr Crossley at an exhibition at Saddleworth Museum.

The artist said it was valued at £700 at the exhibition and would now be worth around £900.

He added: “Due to my work commitments we didn’t see each other often, but used to keep in touch by text.

“When they stopped coming I assumed he had run out of credit, so after a while I called at his house on my day off.

“A man answered the door and said Gary had died. It was a tremendous shock. I knew he was ill but didn’t know he had died.

“I later wondered what had happened to my painting, so I tried to contact his sister, only to be informed that she too had died.”

Mr Crossley contacted First Choice Homes to ask if they knew where it was.

He said: “I was fobbed-off with an explanation that all the flat’s contents would have been consigned to a tip.

“They refused to help me any further.

“It is inconceivable that anybody would throw away a quality award-winning painting by an arts graduate and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.”

A spokesman for First Choice Homes said: “We have no evidence that Mr Crossley’s picture was in the possession of Mr Prescott at the time of his death.

“In this particular case, Mr Prescott’s next of kin was contacted and given time to remove any items they wished from the flat prior to FCHO cleansing the flat in preparation for a new tenant to move in.

“Mr Crossley first contacted FCHO on this matter on April 19, almost two years after Mr Prescott died.

“FCHO is not aware of the whereabouts of the alleged painting.”

Anyone who can shed any light as to where the painting, which measures around 25x35in, might be should contact Mr Crossley on 07866-397 738.