Law, crime and regulation

The government has temporarily stopped the export of the judge's copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' from the infamous obscenity trial.

Burglars in a pick-up truck and an SUV ram raided the Petworth antiques fair at the weekend, stealing jewellery and cash belonging to dealers exhibiting at the three-day fair.

Pictures by contemporary artists Howard Hodgkin, Sir Peter Blake and Gilbert & George and sculptures by William Turnbull have been stolen from a home in Leicestershire.

The government is hoping to find a buyer for four works - three rugs and a painted screen - by Francis Bacon (1909-92) in the hope of keeping them in the country.

A sketch by Dutch artist Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533) has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

The notebooks of Charles Darwin’s mentor, the Scottish geologist Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), have been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

A police appeal has been launched for the recovery of two Frank Auerbach (b.1931) paintings as part of a fraud investigation.

A 16th century marquetry casket long in the collection of Scotland’s Newbattle Abbey has been placed under export bar in a bid to keep it in the country.

Six-hundred rare books, manuscripts and prints which were lost or stolen from a German library during the Second World War have been returned after they were consigned to Sotheby’s.

A rare 350-year-old cabinet made by Baroque craftsman Giacomo Herman (1615-85) has been temporarily barred from export by the UK government in the hope it will be bought by a buyer in the UK.

A prolific pensioner art thief has been sentenced to two years in jail. Police are now calling for help to locate a painting that he stole from a private members’ club in London.

Art shippers have welcomed European Union laws that create a grace period for UK hauliers until the end of 2019.

Old Master picture dealer Mark Weiss has agreed an out-of-court settlement with Sotheby’s in the case of a $10m painting the auction house believed to be a forgery.

A Pablo Picasso painting missing for nearly 20 years has been recovered by the so-called real-life ‘Indiana Jones’ of the art world.

The Met Police’s Flying Squad are appealing for help to find a gang of criminals who reportedly tunnelled into jewellery dealer George Attenborough & Son on Fleet Street.

The cost to firms of cyber fraudsters' invoice scams reached nearly £100m in 2018 and small businesses, such as those in the art and antiques trade, remain vulnerable, according to the latest report.