Police have seized a mysterious coloured print with links to a near decade old Angus burglary.
Retired lecturer and family tree researcher Stuart Gray bought the print for £20 from a Clydebank charity shop after becoming intrigued by the name Mundamalla House.
He discovered the house in the coloured print – a former care home and now private residence in Newtyle – had been stripped by thieves in 2011.
Officers arrived at his Clydebank home on Tuesday afternoon to seize the piece after he called them to tell them about the find.
He said: “There were perfectly pleasant and seemed very interested in finding out where it had come from.”
There was only a problem when he asked the two officers for a receipt.
“They were just about to walk out of the door when I said I didn’t have any record of what had happened.
“I asked for a receipt and they said they didn’t give out receipts for stolen property.”
Mr Gray had initially assumed the print of the house had links to Australia, but after writing to friends in the country he discovered that was not the case.
Thieves raided former retirement home Mundamalla House in Coupar Angus Road, Newtyle, in March 2011.
The home had shut, with the building on the market for offers over £895,000, when thieves made what is thought to have been a number of visits and made off with a significant amount of property.
Full details of the items taken were not released at the time but a large number of fixtures and fittings were said to be among the haul.
“I certainly wish the police well in tracking down the thieves, but it is going to be difficult after nine years,” Mr Gray added.
“The charity shop where I bought it have there is no record of where it came from. The police will likely have a job on their hands to do anything with it.”
In 2013, Angus Council passed an application to turn the former care home back into a private family home.
The owners of the house were trying to get in touch with Mr Gray when police intervened to take possession of the print.
A police spokeswoman said: “The print has been taken and enquiries are ongoing.”