Ex-Sotheby's man lies low

A British auction boss accused of being at the centre of a multi-million-pound plot to fix art house prices is lying low in France today as his codefendant starts a jail term.

Former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman, 77, was jailed for a year yesterday in New York over a deal to fix commission levels with Christie's.

Former Christie's chairman Sir Anthony Tennant, 71, has been charged in the US with price-fixing but refused to travel to New York for the trial - and cannot be extradited because price-fixing is not a criminal offence in Britain.

According to workers on his estate near Andover in Hampshire, he is away in France and "will not be back for weeks".