Durham court battle over Shakespeare folio
Oct 29 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal
AN antiques collector faces an anxious 14-day wait to find out if a £15m Shakespeare first folio will be returned to him.
Raymond Scott was arrested over the theft of the 400-year-old Shakespeare book in July but on Monday he launched a legal fight to get it back.
The 51-year-old is trying to obtain the copy from Professor Christopher Higgins, vice-chancellor of Durham University, in a bid to prove it is not a copy stolen from the university library 10 years ago.
The civil claim was filed at Durham County Court on Monday, before Mr Scott went to the university’s headquarters, at Old Shire Hall, to serve the papers on Prof Higgins in person.
However, after waiting more than an hour he was told that Prof Higgins was not available. He will now send the claim by post.
Mr Scott said: “I’m hoping that I can prove in a civil court that the book that I took in to the Folger Library in Washington – the one I call the Cuban copy – is not the one stolen from Durham a decade ago.
“With expert examination I will be able to cast sufficient doubt about the dissimilarities and the book will be returned to me as opposed to Durham University.”
The 900-page 1623 manuscript arrived back in Durham on Friday in time for experts to examine the work.
The development marks the latest stage of a police investigation which was sparked in Washington DC in July. It was then that Mr Scott entered the Folger Shakespeare Library and asked experts to verify the folio as genuine.
However, academics at the centre said they thought the book was that taken from Durham University in 1998.
Mr Scott was arrested during a raid at his home in Widgeon Close, Ayton Village, Washington, following a tip-off by the British Embassy in the USA.
But the 51-year-old – who lives with his 80-year-old mother – maintains the book he took for verification in America is not the Durham folio.
He is due to answer his bail next month and has called for the police to return the book so he can auction it and donate some of the proceeds to charity.
Last night he said he felt persecuted by his treatment, despite his full co-operation which includes giving police full access to his offshore bank accounts.
He said: “I have filed this claim at the earliest possible opportunity. I heard about the folios returning from Washington on Monday and was unable to do anything until Monday.
“I have been co-operated entirely with everything that has been asked of me. I’ve given investigators full access to my bank accounts.
“That includes a bank account I have in Liechtenstein, which they wouldn’t have been able to get access to without my consent.”
Last night, a Durham University spokesman said that any documents would be dealt with in the appropriate manner but nothing had yet been received.
A Durham Police spokesman said: “As far as we are concerned, the folio believed to have been stolen from Durham University 10 years ago was brought from America to the North East at the weekend.
“It remains under lock and key and continues to be the subject of a criminal investigation.”
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