Art thief who stole 18th century Icon from Chester Cathedral jailed

An art thief from Crewe has been jailed today for stealing an 18th century Icon from Chester Cathedral.

Vasily Apilats replaced the 'Raising of the Lazarus' Icon with an angle figure during the robbery in August 2014.

The 61-year-old was arrested at his home in Crewe on 17 September 2014 after officers discovered the piece of art, which is worth £2,500, wrapped inside a black bin bag in his dining room. It was found hoarded with a room full of other religious artefacts.

During the trial it was revealed that officers were able to identify Apilats as the suspect after his DNA was recovered from swabs taken from the picture stand which the Icon was attached to.

In today's sentencing hearing, the court was told that Apilats had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Today, Apilats was sentenced to 9 months in prison.