According to Drewe himself, he joined the student protests in Paris in 1968, moved to West Germany and studied physics in the Kiel University.
In 1980, Drewe met wealthy Israeli expatriate Bat-Sheva Goudsmid and soon moved into her house, having charmed her with claims that he was an advisor to the Atomic Energy Authority, a British Aerospace board member, and worked for the Ministry of Defence.
First Drewe presented himself as a nuclear physicist who wanted art copies for his own home and hinted at links to British intelligence.
He forged certificates of authenticity and even invoices of previous sales to establish false provenance and paper trails for the paintings.
He also convinced some of his living friends to sign documents as though they were previous owners of the paintings — most of them were broke or otherwise in trouble and accepted the money he offered them.
To an old childhood friend, Daniel Stokes, he concocted a story about a drinking wife and needy children and convinced him to pretend to be an owner of a fake Ben Nicholson painting.
Clive Bellman, another acquaintance, was told that the paintings were sold to provide money for purchases of archival materials from the Soviet Union about the Holocaust.
In 1989, Drewe gained access to the letter archives of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London by claiming to be an interested collector.
On 16 April 1996 police raided Drewe's house in Reigate, Surrey, and found materials he had used to forge certificates of authenticity.
He also claimed that he was a British intelligence agent, that Myatt was a neo-Nazi operative and that Robert Harris, a name mentioned in many forged certificates, was a South African arms dealer.
On 13 February 1999 Drewe was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to defraud, two counts of forgery, one of theft, and one of using a false instrument with intent.
[2] In March 2012 at Norwich Crown Court, Drewe was convicted of defrauding a 71-year-old retired music teacher of her life savings of £700,000 and leaving her penniless.