‘Roaring Lion’ thief loses appeal of sentence, lawyer to appeal again

Ottawa·UpdatedJeffrey Wood, who stole The Roaring Lion portrait of Winston Churchill from Ottawa’s Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022, has lost an appeal of his jail sentence. Jeffrey Wood had been sentenced to nearly 2 years in jailCBC News · Posted: Oct 30, 2025 11:52 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesJeffrey Wood, seen here outside at the Ottawa Courthouse earlier this year, has lost an appeal of his jail sentence. (Chris Tanouye/The Canadian Press)CORRECTION | A previous version of this story said Jeffrey Wood had won his appeal when in fact he lost it.Jeffrey Wood, who stole The Roaring Lion portrait of Winston Churchill from Ottawa’s Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022, has lost an appeal of his jail sentence.In March, 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 Three additional charges were withdrawn.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. The following month, an appeals court judge ordered Wood released from custody pending an appeal of his jail sentence. Wood’s lawyer Lawrence Greenspon called it “unnecessarily harsh.”At the core of the appeal was the argument that the sentencing judge had made mistakes such as improperly relying on international law and failing to consider a conditional sentence.Thursday’s decision did not agree.”The appellant has failed to identify any error in principle but merely asks us to reweigh the aggravating and mitigating factors and substitute our judgment for that of the sentencing judge. That is not our role, and we decline to do so,” it read.Greenspon now tells CBC News he will seek leave to appeal Thursday’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.CorrectionsA previous version of this story said Wood had won his appeal when in fact he lost it.Oct 30, 2025 12:16 PM EDT