No. They call the guy a thief because he had a garden shed full of art treasures that didn't belong to him
not necessarily. He was living in a house formerly owned by an art dealer and you could argue that he bought the house along with the contents, so technically he may be the legal owner.
It is not as though the bricklayer was stealing art treasures and raiding museums himself.
As he has suffered from strokes, it is unlikely that he will be able to shed any light on how the art treasures happened to get there and would be too frail to stand trial, even if charged with something
The authorities should confiscate the lot as he has clearly demonstrated that he has not been a worthy custodian of the art