Picasso's former electrician, wife convicted of possessing stolen art

GRASSE, France, March 20 (UPI) -- Picasso's former electrician was convicted Friday of possessing 271 works from the Spanish artist and ordered to give the pieces, worth up to an estimated $105 million, back to Picasso's family.

Pierre Le Guennec and wife Danielle were each given a two-year suspended sentence for possessing stolen goods and concealing the artwork in their garage for some 40 years. Although the verdict established the couple was guilty of possessing stolen goods, it does not address who stole them.

Pierre Le Guennec worked for Picasso's family as an electrician and handyman at the artist's home near Mougins, France. During the trial, he said Picasso's wife Jacqueline gave him a box of artwork, saying "this is for you." When he realized the box was full of "drawings, sketches, crumpled paper" he stashed it in his garage.

Le Guennec said he discovered the forgotten box in 2009 and took it to have the works authenticated at the Picasso Administration in Paris. The artist's heirs filed a legal complaint. Pierre Le Guennec has long denied stealing the works.

"Picasso had total confidence in me. Maybe it was my discretion," Le Guennec said. "Monsieur and Madame called me 'little cousin'."

The pieces, created between 1900 and 1932, include work from Picasso's "blue period" and nine rare Cubist collages from the artist's work with French artist Georges Braque.

After the verdict, Danielle Le Guennec expressed her disappointment: "We're honest people. Maybe we don't know how to speak ... We're little people, we don't have a big name."