On the night of 26 April 1974, 19 prized masterpieces were stolen at gunpoint from Russborough House, County Wicklow, the home of Sir Alfred Beit, a former Conservative MP and South African mining heir.
The haul included paintings by Goya, Velázquez, Vermeer, Rubens, Hals, Gainsborough and Guardi. It was one of the largest art heists in history. The IRA gang had tricked their way into the stately home south of Dublin, led by a woman pretending to be a French tourist whose car had broken down.
