Italian art thief found murdered in Regent's Canal

  LONDON — The body of a 46-year-old Italian art thief was found in London’s Regent Canal tied to a shopping trolley near Islington tunnel, police said Thursday. 

  The heavily tattooed body, which was found a week ago tied to a shopping trolley, in an advanced stage of decomposition, was identified from finger prints as Sebastiano Magnanini, from Cannaregio, a town in the Veneto region. He was identified not by any documents on his person, but rather by his distinctive tattoos.

  Police sources said that Magnanini, who had moved to London only a few months ago, after travelling to Thailand, Cambodia and Colombia, was killed in a suspected underworld ambush. 

  It has also been revealed that Magnanini was a convicted art thief, having taken part in the robbery of a painting by Tiepolo, which was stolen in 1993 from the Church of Santa Maria della Fava, in Venice. “The Education of the Virgin" by Tiepolo, was valued at the time at approximately two billion lire (£800,000). At that time, the church was not equipped with alarm systems. 

  The painting was recovered three months later by police in a warehouse in Tessera, and the three protagonists were also captured. Magnanini was jailed for 18 months.

  London police have issued an appeal to residents in the area where the body was found, especially boat owners on the canal, for more information that could help them to determine what happened. Detectives are treating the death as "suspicious."

  A post-mortem examination carried out on the victim did not find the cause of death, and further toxicology tests are being conducted. 

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