LONDON, June 4 (UPI) -- A London warehouse fire that destroyed scores of famous paintings started after a unit was burglarized, sources said Friday.
Thieves reportedly broke into a unit containing watches, computers and mobile phones just prior to a fire breaking out that consumed paintings by Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman at the 34-unit Monmart storage facility in Leyton, east London, Sky News reported.
About 100 irreplaceable works belonging to collector Charles Saatchi were among those being kept in the warehouse, Sky News said.
The fire, which began May 24, blazed for several days.
"It is now believed that the fire began in a particular unit," a Scotland Yard official said, "but it has yet to be established if the fire was started deliberately."
