Thief throws away valuable haul

A thief who stole two valuable paintings from a church threw away the canvases believing only the frames were worth anything.

Police in Herman in the Czech Republic are now looking for the thief after they recovered the paintings, which date back to the Baroque period and are worth over £25,000, a few yards from the church.

Officers say the thief made a huge mistake because the wooden frames, although appearing to be valuable, are worth no more than a few hundred pounds at most, reported daily newspaper Blesk.

Police chief Josef Backovsky said: "The thief was obviously only interested in the very ornate frames and had no idea how much the pictures themselves were actually worth."