Rare book theft case hears of luxury hotels (From Durham Times)

Raymond Scott denies stealing the 1623AD-printed folio from Durham University library

9:49am Tuesday 6th July 2010 in News By Mark Tallentire

THE passport of a flamboyant book dealer accused of stealing a priceless Shakespeare volume contained the addresses of a luxury Monte Carlo hotel and a Liechtenstein bank, a court heard.

Raymond Scott offered his passport to officials when he presented a Shakespeare First Folio at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington DC, US, in June 2008.

On its inside back page were the addresses of the £37m, £330-a-night Fairmont Monte Carlo resort, as well as a bank in the tax haven of Liechtenstein, Newcastle Crown Court was told yesterday.

Mr Scott denies stealing the 1623AD-printed folio from Durham University library in December 1998.

He was arrested at the twoup two-down former council home he shared with his elderly mother, Hannah, in Washington, Wearside, in July 2008.

The 53-year-old claims to have discovered the folio while holidaying in Cuba, the home of his fiancee, nightclub dancer Heidi Garcia Ross.

The contents of his passport came to light as other details of his colourful life emerged yesterday.

Mr Scott claimed to be a seller of rare books for “Scott’s Skoob” – an organisation which police found no evidence of; owned a rebuilt 1998 Ferrari with the personalised number plate – M17 TSE; and between January and July 2008 money was withdrawn from his Post Office Travel Money Card in Cuba, which it would take a Cuban earning the country’s average wage almost 111 years to earn.

Of 1,420 books police seized from his home, only one could be described as rare, the court heard – a work known as Shakespeare’s Head.

Mr Scott has more than a dozen previous convictions for shoplifting and attempted shoplifting spanning Gateshead, Newcastle and London, the jury was told.

Detective Constable Tim Lerner described the folio theft as very opportunistic as the book was “unsupervised within an exhibition”, but Toby Hedworth, defending, questioned this, saying it was guarded by three mortice locks.

Mr Scott, of Manor Grange, Wingate, County Durham, denies theft, handling and transporting stolen goods. He is expected to begin giving evidence today. The trial continues.