Mundane tasks chip away at the whole thing in small chunks, the right crankcase cover was unbolted and the chain was split and removed. My first half hearted attempt to get the flywheel off didn't work, I'll need to wait until I have more time and room to move as the working area is quite cramped and awkward when the bike is fully back in the garage. This weekend I'll be able to get it out a few feet meaning I can get a decent purchase on the flywheel holder while undoing the central nut without trying to balance over a couple of kids bikes.

There was an odd piece of debris(or so I thought around the front sprocket, I pulled it out with pliers, it may be plastic or light alloy I haven't bothered to clean it to find out. but looking at where it came from around the sprocket Looked a bit odd to me, so after a cursory wipe with a paraffin coated rag I notice the castings were rough in a couple of places.

Definitely broken, I've seen this on Ducatis before and its a sure sign to me that the chain has snapped on this bike at some stage in the past, it will have bunched around the sprocket breaking the metal at the front and will have whipped up breaking it directly above the sprocket. On an air cooled Ducati like mine that would have burst the crankcase but fortunately it seems less terminal here. You can get strips of steel that bolt on as protection on the Ducatis but they have convenient bolt holes in that location to attach it to, I think I'll just have to live with this.
Interesting evidence of the bikes history.