‘Dilettante’ dealer charged with £3m Shakespeare theft

An antiques dealer was charged yesterday with stealing a ­£3million first edition of Shakespeare’s works.

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Self-confessed “dilettante” Raymond Scott, 51, stepped out of a stretch Hummer yesterday as he arrived at a police station.

He was wearing a long, fur-trimmed coat and carrying a bottle of champagne, a cigar and a Pot Noodle.

Scott was originally arrested in June last year on suspicion of taking the 1623 First Folio from Durham University in 1998.

The investigation began after a man walked into the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC with the book.

The man claimed he discovered it in Cuba and asked for it to be verified as genuine.

Experts suspected the book was ­stolen and called in the British Embassy. Durham Police and the FBI joined the investigation. The authorities set about tracing the man, who had told library staff he was an “inter­national businessman”.

Their inquiries led to Scott, who lived with his 80-year-old mother in a cul-de-sac in Washington, Tyne and Wear. He publicly denied the theft, and in an interview at the time said that when the book was stolen he would not have known the difference between a Shakespeare First Folio and a “paperback Jackie Collins”.

A Durham Police spokesman yesterday said: “Shortly before midday, a 51-year-old man was charged with the theft of a £3million book taken from Durham University more than 10 years ago.”

Scott was charged after answer­ing bail at Durham City police station. He will also face an alternative charge of handling stolen goods.

He was also charged with four offences – two of handling stolen goods and two of theft – relating to a driving licence, credit cards and a personal organiser.

He was bailed to appear before North Durham magistrates on February 10.

The Shakespeare folio was returned to Britain last October.

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