Police in Britain searching for the thieves of a painting by the French impressionist, Cezanne, valued at more than three-million dollars, thought they'd made a breakthrough when they raided a pub in the English Midlands.

However it turned out that the picture hanging in the bar was a copy which the landlord had painted himself in order, as he put it, to give his customers a laugh.

Nigel Ashby said it took him thirty minutes to produce the imitation of Cezanne's famous Auvers-Sur-Oise, which was stolen from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on New Year's Day.

Mr Ashby said the police arrived within hours of his own version going on display -- but left when they realised the paint was still wet.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service