[MSN] A lawyer who is one of four men charged in connection with the theft of a £30m da Vinci masterpiece from a Scottish stately home, resigned yesterday as a corporate partner with his legal firm.

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Lawyer implicated in theft quits

A lawyer who is one of four men charged in connection with the theft of a
£30m da Vinci masterpiece from a Scottish stately home, resigned yesterday
as a corporate partner with his legal firm.

Executives at HBJ Gateley Wareing's Glasgow office were said to be shocked
when corporate partner Calum Jones was arrested and charged with conspiracy
to rob and extort money.

Yesterday the lawyer tendered his resignation and it is understood that he
has parted company with the legal firm with immediate effect.

He was arrested on October 4 and appeared in court the following day, after
a raid on his Glasgow office led to the recovery of the Leonardo da Vinci
painting, Madonna with the Yarnwinder, which was stolen from the late Duke
of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire in August 2003.

The 500-year-old painting was discovered in what detectives described as a
"prolonged and thorough investigation". Mr Jones, of Kilmacolm,
Renfrewshire, along with Robert Graham, 55, John Doyle, 58, and Marshall
Ronald, 51, all from Lancashire were arrested.

An HBJ Gateley Wareing source said that Mr Jones, 52, a company law
specialist, had been "embarrassed" by the proceedings. "The whole story came
as a shock to the guys at HBJ Gateley Wareing who are top of the tree in
Scotland," said the source.

12:31am Saturday 27th October 2007