A POPULAR artist is asking people to be on the look out for one of his oil paintings stolen from the window of a law firm.

Grenville Nock, of Railway Road, Darwen, had displayed the picture of Darwen Tower in the window of Darwen Law Chambers. But thieves removed a small pane of glass from the window, also in Railway Road and took the framed picture.

Mr Nock said: "The picture was for sale and had been in the window for the last couple of weeks. "I would rather the thieves would smash it up than sell it on and buy drugs with the proceeds."

Beverley Rees from Darwen Law Chambers said: "The thieves knew what they were doing.

"They carefully removed the beading around one of the panes of glass and took it out rather than smash it and trigger the burglar alarm."

The painting is mounted in a green and white double mount with a white wooden frame, and is 14in by 12in.

Anyone with any information should contact Darwen CID on 01254 701777.

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