This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/wear/10571122.stm
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Man cleared of Shakespeare theft | Man cleared of Shakespeare theft |
(40 minutes later) | |
Raymond Scott denied theft and handling stolen goods | |
Antiques dealer Raymond Scott has been cleared of stealing a rare copy of Shakespeare's First Folio. | Antiques dealer Raymond Scott has been cleared of stealing a rare copy of Shakespeare's First Folio. |
But a Newcastle Crown Court jury found the 53-year-old from County Durham guilty of handling stolen goods and removing stolen property from the UK. | But a Newcastle Crown Court jury found the 53-year-old from County Durham guilty of handling stolen goods and removing stolen property from the UK. |
Scott, of Wingate, near Peterlee, had denied stealing the 1623 work from a glass cabinet at Durham University in 1998. | Scott, of Wingate, near Peterlee, had denied stealing the 1623 work from a glass cabinet at Durham University in 1998. |
He had also denied handling stolen goods. | He had also denied handling stolen goods. |
The charges relate to one of the surviving copies of the 1623 compendium of Shakespeare's plays which went missing from Durham University in 1998. | |
It was handed in by Scott to the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC a decade later. | |
The 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 that he he hoped to sell it at auction and share the money with friends in Cuba. | |
Scott was remanded in custody by Judge Richard Lowden, who told him: "There will, in due time, be an inevitable substantial custodial sentence." | |
The judge adjourned the case to a date to be fixed to allow a psychiatric report to be prepared. |