 HISTORIANS voiced concern last night after valuable artworks were removed from the ruins of a North Wales Victorian mansion. The elaborate plaster reliefs, taken from Hafodunos Hall, Llangernyw, are now in safe-keeping. Owner John Rochelle said they were removed by thieves ready for collection. The reliefs - by Victorian artist John Gibson - survived the arson attack which destroyed the Grade I-listed mansion last October, gracing the hallway and staircase. Consultant Brian Horton was commissioned by the Victorian Society, Cadw and Save Britain's Heritage, to compile a report on the hall. He said it was vital the reliefs, depicting classical Greek scenes and characters, should remain in situ if they were ever to be restored. But yesterday Dale Dishon, architectural historian with the Victorian Society, said three-and-a-half of the seven panels had gone missing. "It's a terrible situation because they are works of art of national significance," she said.. "One reason Brian Horton recommended that they remain in place is that it becomes a massive, complicated jig-saw if all the rubble is shovelled up together. "It's much easier if the reliefs are kept pretty well as they were," she said. | 
