A thief who stole a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill was told he had “breached” the trust of the nation as he was sentenced to just shy of two years in jail for one of the most brazen art heists in Canadian history.

Jeffrey Ian James Wood, a 44-year-old small-time art collector, removed the famed “Roaring Lion” print of Britain’s wartime leader from Ottawa’s Fairmont Château hotel in January 2022.

The 20 x 24 inch portrait of Sir Winston outside Canada’s House of Commons, taken by Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941, features on £5 banknotes and is estimated to be worth millions of pounds.

The theft was not discovered until months later, as Wood had replaced the original with a fake.