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Shakespeare book man to appeal
A FORMER South Shields Grammar School pupil is appealing against his conviction for trying to sell a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio.
Raymond Scott, 53, was jailed for eight years last August after trying to sell the 17th century book – worth up to 3m – to fund a jet-set lifestyle with his young Cuban girlfriend.
He is now serving his sentence at HMP Castington, in Northumberland, after starting his sentence at Durham Jail, then transferring to Acklington, also in Northumberland.
Scott has now appealed against both his conviction and the length of his sentence.
Speaking from prison, Scott said: "I did not think I would be convicted, and thought even if I was, the sentence would be just two or three years.
"I was genuinely not worried. I should have known the First Folio case would go out with a bang, not a whimper."
In jail, Scott spends his time doing a motor mechanics course, reading, exercising, playing chess and watching TV in his cell.
Scott is also receiving treatment for his alcohol addiction.
He added: "I'm looking at my time as extensive rehab. I was given a course of librium at first, to get over my drinking, and I've never felt so fit.
"I was on Prozac too, but not any more. The excessive drinking of the past few years, especially those two awful years on bail, were beyond enjoying alcohol and all to do with decline and failure.
"There are people who pay thousands to go to places for the treatment I have received inside, which I, of course, get for nothing."
The former South Tyneside schoolboy first hit the headlines in June 2008 after walking into the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, in the US, with a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, one of only 230 surviving copies in the world.
Staff became suspicious and an expert later confirmed the copy had been stolen from Durham University in 1998.
The FBI was alerted and Scott, of Washington, was arrested. Following a three-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court last year, Scott was cleared of stealing the First Folio, but found guilty of handling stolen goods and transporting them outside the UK, receiving an eight-year jail term.
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