AN ARTIST has threatened to destroy a collection of 16 masterpieces by the likes of Picasso, Rembrandt and Andy Warhol if Julian Assange dies in prison.

For his latest conceptual art project, Russian-born France resident Andrei Molodkin says he has gathered art he estimates is worth more than £40 million and has threatened to douse it in acid.

Kept in a 29-tonne vault alongside a pneumatic pump that can destroy the works with acid powder and a chemical accelerator, his Dead Man’s Switch project is backed by the WikiLeaks founder’s wife Stella; a 24-hour timer has to be reset by the Assange team before it reaches zero to prevent the corrosive material from being released.