Antiques dealer jailed over stolen Shakespeare folio
An antiques dealer has been jailed for eight years for handling a stolen copy of Shakespeare's first folio.
Raymond Scott, 53, from County Durham was cleared of stealing the treasure, but found guilty of handling stolen goods at a trial in June.
The 1623 work was taken from a display cabinet at Durham University in 1998.
Judge Richard Lowden called the folio "quintessentially English treasure" and said damage to it was "cultural vandalisation".
The case related to one of the surviving copies of the 17th Century compendium of Shakespeare's plays.
It was handed in by Scott to the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC a decade later.
The Newcastle Crown Court trial was told Scott kept the badly-damaged volume, estimated to be worth about £1m, at his house for a decade before taking it to the Folger library where staff called police.
It was alleged Scott hoped to sell the treasure at auction and share the money with friends in Cuba.
Passing sentence, Judge Richard Lowden said: "You are to some extent a fantasist and have to some degree a personality disorder and you have been an alcoholic.
"It is clear that from the (psychiatric) report you are not suffering from any mental disorder."...
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Raymond Scott, 53, from County Durham was cleared of stealing the treasure, but found guilty of handling stolen goods at a trial in June.
The 1623 work was taken from a display cabinet at Durham University in 1998.
Judge Richard Lowden called the folio "quintessentially English treasure" and said damage to it was "cultural vandalisation".
The case related to one of the surviving copies of the 17th Century compendium of Shakespeare's plays.
It was handed in by Scott to the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC a decade later.
The Newcastle Crown Court trial was told Scott kept the badly-damaged volume, estimated to be worth about £1m, at his house for a decade before taking it to the Folger library where staff called police.
It was alleged Scott hoped to sell the treasure at auction and share the money with friends in Cuba.
Passing sentence, Judge Richard Lowden said: "You are to some extent a fantasist and have to some degree a personality disorder and you have been an alcoholic.
"It is clear that from the (psychiatric) report you are not suffering from any mental disorder."...