A stepfather and son appeared before York Magistrates this afternoon, charged in connection with the York City Art Gallery robbery. Craig William Townend, of Middle Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, aged 28, was accused of robbing staff members R J Fisher, D W Blades, A C Dunnington and P J Gelder of 20 paintings and panels to the value of £1.7 million, belonging to City of York Council.

The offence, which was said to have happened on January 22 in York, carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

There was no application for bail from Townend's solicitor, Trevor Cox, and he was remanded in custody. The case was adjourned to next Tuesday.

Townend's stepfather, William Spence, aged 49, a window cleaner, also of Middle Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, was accused of handling the stolen paintings.

The full charge was that on May 17, at Rotherham, he dishonestly undertook or assisted in the retention, removal, disposal or realisation of stolen goods, namely 20 paintings and panels, to the value of £1.7 million, belonging to City of York Council, by or for the benefit of another or dishonestly arranged so to do, knowing or believing the same to be stolen goods. The offence carries a maximum penalty of six months.

Mr Stephen Smith, defending, applied for bail for Spence but the application was turned down by magistrates and he was remanded in custody until next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, City of York Council's head of museums said today staff had been surprised by the relatively good state of the paintings, which were recovered earlier this week.

Sandra Bicknell said: "We were very worried that when they came back they would be in an even worse condition than when they were first removed."

She said some of the paintings were damaged when they were taken out of their frames, but on first inspection they did not seem to have deteriorated further.

She said gallery curator Richard Green would be carrying out a further examination.

She could not say when the paintings would be returned to public view in the gallery.

Police revealed today that they are looking for at least one more person in connection with the robbery.

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