One of Britain’s richest aristocrats was deeply upset by the theft of a rare and prized painting by Leonardo da Vinci and by the lack of progress in finding it, a jury heard today. The ninth Duke of Buccleuch, John Montagu Douglas Scott, and his father before him, had treasured the painting, Madonna of the Yarnwinder, so dearly they would carry it with them when they travelled between their various houses, the high court in Edinburgh was told. Richard Scott, who became the 10th Duke of Buccleuch in September 2007, said the theft of the Leonardo had devastated his father, who did not live to see its recovery in a police raid on a law firm in Glasgow in October 2007. Cross-examined by Donald Findlay QC, the duke said he and his father had “a fear” the painting could be destroyed or seriously damaged by the thieves or other “volatile” people. This morning the jury of 15 was given a private viewing of the Leonardo, thought to date to 1501, at the National Gallery of Scotland , in Edinburgh.

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