AN ART dealer from the Cotswolds is facing more than 50 charges of stealing from his clients, including works by the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, to the tune of almost £1million.

Among the famous faces from which Jonathon Poole, of London Road, Poulton, near Cirencester, is accused of making an illicit fortune are Princess Diana, Mick Jagger and Adolf Hitler.

Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Jim Morrison, Ringo Starr, Kate Moss, John Lydon, Steve McQueen, Auguste Rodin, Marilyn Monroe, Isadore Duncan and Jesus Christ are also among the iconic figures to have featured in over a decade of alleged fine art crime.

Mr Poole, himself an accomplished painter of animals and wildlife, is facing 59 charges of stealing works of art, pocketing a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of other works and of falsely claiming to be entitled to sell artworks owned by his clients.

The total of the fortune alleged to have been fraudulently amassed by Mr Poole is estimated at over £900,000.

At the Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court hearing last Thursday, before District Judge Joti Bopa Rai, Mr Poole spoke only to give his address and confirm his age as 69.

Included among the charges is that between January 2004 and March 2013 Poole stole a work of art called Jim Morrison, valued £10,000, belonging to Fiona Worthington.

Another is that between May 2007 and March 2011 Poole stole a work of art called Kate Moss to the value of £71,000 belonging to Mark Noble.

He is further charged that between April 2007 and March 2013 he stole a work of art known as Fallen Angel by Auguste Rodin, to the value of £37,500, belonging to Andreas Bunneman.

It is alleged that between January 2009 and December the same year he stole works of art called Adam, Jete, Icarus, The Shell, Margot Fonteyn, Hand of Christ, Girl Dressing, two Jesus Christ masks, Nureyev, Nicki Lifesize, Study of Marconi Award, Carol, Baigneuse, Isadore Duncan Relief, Study for Polly, Fighting Horses, to the value of £245,107.50, belonging to Andreas Bunneman.

Five of the charges allege that Poole dishonestly made false representation, namely that he was entitled to sell specific works of art intending to make a gain for himself and thereby a loss to the owners of the works.

It is further alleged that between August 2012 and March 2013 he stole £8,000 in cash belonging to Jeffery Simmons.

The court heard that Mr Poole was unable to give an indication of how he would plead to the charges because paperwork relating to the offences, sent by email from the Crown Prosecution Service to his lawyers in Gloucester, had failed to arrive.

The judge directed that the Crown should supply the information on a memory stick.

The case was committed to Gloucester Crown Court for a further hearing on June 15.