Law library worker stole and ruined valuable collection

Neil Winstanley, 45, who worked at the Middle Temple law library in London, stole a horde of valuable texts including the first ever Bible printed in Spanish.

He then ripped out pages showing maps of the ancient world and sold them to collectors, an Old Bailey jury heard.

When police raided his home and found remains of some of the books, Winstanley claimed he had bought them at an antiques fair in Bermondsey. But he was convicted after the jury heard he had used a fake stamp to pretend the books had been withdrawn from the library where he worked.

It emerged that he already had a conviction for a similar offence, having been given 100 hours community service in June 2001 for stealing £8500 worth of historical maps from Greenwich Library.

The court heard how, while he worked in the store room at the Middle Temple library, Winstanley was seen sneaking about on the upper floor browsing through valuable works. He was also seen to have books from the antiquarian section down in his office when he had no business with them, the prosecution explained.

“He aroused such suspicion that he was asked not to come back and not to do any further work in the library,” said prosecutor Tim Cray. In fact, the library management were so concerned that they sacked Winstanley in March 2000.

Police raid

The scam came to light when police searching for stolen maps from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth raided collector David Bannister’s home. They discovered pages from a book of maps on Chile, Venezuela and Mexico at the Cheltenham house. There were also two atlases of Europe, Asia and America, and works by the late 16th century cartographer Rosaccio.

The court heard that Mr Bannister had paid £5000 for the three books, which the police realised had come from the Middle Temple library. This led them to Winstanley.

When they then searched his home in Camberwell, south London, they found the front page of La Biblia, a Spanish bible printed first in 1569. They also discovered an 1897 book containing maps of Venezuela, and three maps taken from a 1634 atlas.
It is believed that Winstanley was slowly selling off pages either at book fairs or at his stall in Camden Market.

Winstanley denied stealing the books and claimed he had bought them at a book fair in Bermondsey, south east London, in the summer of 2000. He is due to be sentenced later this month.