Jeffrey Wood, the man who stole The Roaring Lion portrait of Winston Churchill from Ottawa’s Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022, will be able to appeal his jail sentence.
The celebrated photographer Yousuf Karsh, a longtime resident of the Château Laurier, gave the portrait to the hotel in 1998. It was returned to the hotel following its disappearance and the international hunt that ended in September 2024.
In March 2025, Wood pleaded guilty to forgery, theft over $5,000 and trafficking property obtained by crime. Three additional charges were withdrawn.
Wood was sentenced to two years less a day in custody in May 2025.
Wood’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon called it “unnecessarily harsh” and appealed it. Ontario’s highest court dismissed that appeal in October.
Greenspon appealed that to the Supreme Court of Canada, which said Thursday it would hear the appeal.
Dates for the next steps have not been set.
