A serial antique book thief who walked out of the Royal Horticultural Society with thirteen valuable volumes worth £50,000 has been jailed for three-and-half years.
Cambridge-graduate William Simon Jacques, 41 (pictured) went on the run after he was originally arrested in April 2007, but was eventually tracked-down by police and caught in North Yorkshire on Christmas Day, last year.
The notorious criminal was previously convicted of stealing a £40,000 Malthus original from his university's library while studying at Jesus College along with works by Descartes, Galileo and Newton.
It is estimated Jacques, originally from wealthy farming stock in Selby, North Yorshire, has stolen over £1m worth of books from Britain's great libraries, auctioning them for huge profit.
He was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of stealing the volumes of ‘Nouvelle Iconographies des Camellias’ by Verschaffelt, which contain a valuable array of coloured plates of Camellias and explanatory text.
He was originally arrested in the society’s Lindley Library, Vincent Square, Pimlico, Westminster for simply walking out with the books hidden underneath his clothing.
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