My legal splat with Steve McQueen's estate over £51m Jackson Pollock

FOR lawyer Brent Borchert growing up in the 60s, it was just another painting on the wall of the family home.

- BY TOM BRYANT

In fact, he was not all that enamoured with the distinctive work, the paint splattered on a canvas.

"I didn't actively dislike it... but I wasn't the biggest fan," Brent laughs.

Now, of course, it is instantly recognisable as the work of the legendary Jackson Pollock - and estimated to be worth more than £51million.

After his mum and dad, Pamela and Rudolph, died, Brent was left with the painting along with the rest of their art collection in Malibu, California.

But his enjoyment of the Pollock piece has been shattered after suddenly finding himself at the centre of an extraordinary legal wrangle involving legendary Hollywood star Steve McQueen's estate.

The icon's granddaughter, Molly McQueen, claims the late actor was the painting's legal owner all along.

According to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by Molly's lawyer, Brent's parents allegedly failed to honour a swap deal involving a motorbike and a house in California for the artwork.

It alleges how "actor Steve McQueen transferred a Jackson Pollock drip painting to Rudolph and Pamela Borchert, in anticipated exchange for a motorcycle and Latigo Canyon property. However, one of the Borcherts crashed the motorcycle and the property never changed title".

The lawsuit adds how Steve then "made a demand for return of the Pollock painting within a reasonable time thereafter" but alleges that the Borcherts failed to do so.

Molly, it states, is "entitled to immediate possession of the painting".