Book Thief Jailed Again For Stealing Rare Books
Source: Guardian.co.uk
A Cambridge graduate who stole more than £1m worth of rare books during his career as a professional book thief was today found guilty of stealing £40,000's worth of books from a celebrated library.
William Jacques, nicknamed "Tome Raider" after stealing hundreds of rare books in the late 1990s, drew up a "thief's shopping list", targeting the most expensive books that he could access.
He used a false name to sign in to the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley library in London before hiding valuable books under his tweed jacket, Southwark Crown Court was told.
Detective Constable Paul Howitt said Jacques, the son of a farmer from Selby, North Yorkshire, was an "extremely arrogant man, a very greedy man who was obsessed by money" and was "responsible for the biggest ever raid of our leading libraries".
The Cambridge graduate began selling stolen books at auction houses in the late 90s. The haul that led to his previous conviction, some 500 rare antiquarian books and pamphlets from the British Library, Cambridge University Library and the London Library, was one of the biggest of its kind in British legal history, and many of the works were damaged in an attempt to disguise their origins.
Jacques was jailed for four years in May 2002 by a judge at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court for 21 counts of theft. He now faces a similar time in jail after his most recent offences.
Judge Derek Inman told Jacques he had hidden behind a "shabby cloak of respectability" as he spent years systematically plundering valuable collections without anyone noticing.
Jacques had been a member of the three libraries for years, ironically informing the British Library that he needed their facilities for "economic research". He has a extremely high IQ and used his knowledge of the antiquarian book trade to cheat police, the court heard.
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