Jeffrey Wood, Guilty plea for stealing Winston Churchill portrait from Ottawa hotel

Winston Churchill, 1941 by Yousuf Karsh. This photograph of Britain's wartime prime minister came to define the resilience of the British people. (Yousuf Karsh)

Jeffrey Wood, the man responsible for stealing the renowned portrait of Winston Churchill from Ottawa's Château Laurier hotel during a COVID-19 lockdown in late 2022, pleaded guilty to three charges in court on March 14, 2025. These charges include theft over $5,000, forgery, and trafficking in property obtained by crime. Wood admitted to replacing the original portrait with a fake, despite the hotel’s frame being secured with special bolts that required specific tools to remove. The theft occurred sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day in 2022, but it wasn't noticed until August 2023 when a hotel employee realized the portrait had been swapped out.

The stolen portrait, given to the hotel in 1998 by famed photographer Yousuf Karsh, became the center of a complex, international investigation. After the portrait was sold through a London auction house, it was found in Genoa, Italy, where the buyer unknowingly purchased the stolen piece. Authorities were able to trace the sale back to Wood, who had received over $4,500 for the stolen artwork. Investigators also found a poster print of "The Roaring Lion" in a storage locker, with DNA evidence linking Wood to the crime scene.

Despite the theft's global nature, Wood’s motives were tied to personal struggles. During court proceedings, Wood explained that he committed the crime to support his brother, who was overseas at the time. However, his brother tragically passed away shortly after the theft. His lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, described the crime as one of “love,” not greed. Wood had also made plans to leave Canada around the time of the theft, which was part of his larger plan to sell the stolen portrait.

Jeffrey Wood arrives at the Ottawa Courthouse on March 14, 2025. He would go on to plead guilty to three charges, including theft and forgery, for stealing a portrait of Windston Churchill from the Château Laurier hotel. (Chris Tanouye/The Canadian Press)

Wood, a 44-year-old from Powassan, Ontario, had worked in various jobs, including as a bank teller and at the Rideau Canal Festival and the Ottawa Jail Hostel. He had also spent time living in Mexico, where he had moved shortly after the theft. Wood’s defense team argues that he should serve his sentence in the community, while prosecutors are pushing for a nearly two-year prison sentence. The final sentencing is set for April 14, 2025.

J.Larson