'Tome raider' jailed for theft of rare books

A CAMBRIDGE University graduate from Yorkshire, dubbed the "Tome Raider" after stealing the largest ever haul of antique books in British legal history, has been jailed for his latest raid on a world-famous library.

William Jacques was told yesterday that he was eroding the cultural heritage of the nation's libraries after he was convicted of the latest in a series of valuable book thefts.

Jacques, 41, who is the son of a farmer from Selby, stole 1m of rare books in the late 1990s in the biggest case of its kind in British legal history, and then drew up a "thief's shopping list" as he continued his life of crime.

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He used a false name to sign in to the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library in central London before stuffing valuable books under his tweed jacket and fleeing, Southwark Crown Court in London was told.

Sentencing him to three-and-a-half years in prison, Recorder Michael Holland QC told Jacques: "You have absolutely no intention of turning away from what seems to you to be an extremely lucrative and easy crime."

Such crimes "undermine and destroy parts of the cultural heritage that's contained within these libraries", the judge added.

The jury had previously heard that Jacques would regularly visit Lindley Library, which holds books, journals, pictures and art on gardening dating back to 1514. The rare volumes of Nouvelle Iconographies des Camellias by Ambroise Verschaffelt, worth 40,000, were taken some time between June 2004 – when an audit of the books was last undertaken – and March 2007.

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Gino Connor, prosecuting, said the crime was a "systematic, carefully planned theft committed by a man who knew precisely what he was doing".

He added: "We are not dealing with Penguin books, we are dealing with very valuable books."

Jacques, who is "highly intelligent" with an understanding of rare and valuable books, read economics at Jesus College and was a member of both the British Library and the London Library.

Library staff started to become suspicious after noticing he would always wear a tweed jacket and glasses on visits.

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Mr Connor said that, on one occasion, the defendant was seen placing something inside his jacket before walking away "with his left arm stiff against his jacket as if holding something".

He told the jury Jacques always signed in when visiting the library, when he had both arms free. But he never signed out.

Staff called police to the library on April 2, 2007, after noticing Jacques in the building.

Police later found an A4 piece of paper with the names of 70 rare books, all kept at the library, and listed in sequential order as to where they could be found.

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The document amounted to a "thief's shopping list", Mr Connor said.

Jacques, of no fixed address, was found guilty of theft, relating to the 13 volumes missing from the library, by a majority verdict of 11-to-one.

The jury of seven women and five men also unanimously found Jacques guilty of going equipped with a card for London's Senate House library to commit theft.

Jacques faces confiscation proceedings in January.

The former chartered accountant had been working as an odd job man after his earlier conviction.

He was given a four-year jail sentence at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in May 2002 for 21 counts of theft after plundering 500 historic books worth 1m from the UK's leading libraries in the 1990s.

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