Monday 2 August 2010

Raymond Scott



Do you get a bit suspicious when someone supposedly living on benefits seems to live a jet-set lifestyle and keeps a Ferrari?
Scott, 53, has never worked and he lives with his mum in her terraced house in Sunderland .Scott drank expensive champagne, bought designer clothes and regularly flew to Cuba to see his girlfriend.

So how did he do it?

Scott has just been given an eight year jail sentence for ‘handling stolen goods’. He is guilty of cultural vandalism to one of Shakespeare’s first folios. The folio in question was stolen from Durham University library in 1998. Scott had it in his possession for ten years then tried to sell it to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC for £1m. The folio had been badly damaged, in an effort to remove evidence of its provenance. Luckily the staff at the Folger were astute and called in the FBI.

Scott turned up for his month long trial at Newcastle Crown Court in a limousine with four bodyguards. One day he attended court dressed as Che Guevara, spraying the photographers with champagne. It was revealed that Scott had a string of offences for fraud and theft stretching back 32 years.

So, that is how he managed to live like an international playboy, together with his £90k debts.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went to school with Raymond Scott. I can't pretend I'm surprised at his behaviour or demise. I wonder what happened to his soul mate from those school days- Nick Ord.

Anonymous said...

Scott started secondary school (a Grammar in South Shields) in 1968. At first he seemed ok but gradually his behaviour deteriorated and he caused all sorts of problems.

Sue's Blog said...

Hi Anonymous
There was a documentary about him on TV a few nights ago. He certainly appears to be a colourful character.
He must have some sort of personality disorder, or live in a fantasy world.
Defacing the Shakespeare folio was unforgivable though.

The Plashing Vole said...

Clearly it's more profitable to steal Shakespeare than read him - though he'd have learned something about hubris from several of the plays.

Sue's Blog said...

Good point Voley – sadly his only interest in Shakespeare was callous exploitation.

Anonymous said...

Scott's problem at school was that he wanted to be "special", to stand out. He didn't. He was nothing special academically. He was probably top dog in in his junior school but when faced with all his class mates having also passed the 11 plus, he couldn't compete. He gradually got more and more outrageous with his partner in being silly (Nick Ord). He once took a pig's head into school.

Crazy. I'm not surprised he ended up as he has.

Here he is, 2nd row from the front, 2nd from right.
http://www.boyshighschool.co.uk/photos/schoolphotos/1968-1s.htm