Dealer is convicted of stealing rare book

AN ITALIAN bookseller has been convicted of stealing a £1,675 Harry Potter book by swapping it with a novel of “very little value” on a shop shelf.

Rudolf Schonegger, 55, pocketed a rare copy of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, signed by author JK Rowling, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, central London, on New Year’s Eve.

CCTV showed him browsing the shop before making the audacious switch while a staff member’s back was turned. A copy of Late Call by Angus Wilson was found in the place of the Potter book.

About three hours later he struck again, snatching a valuable book at a pop-up store in Fortnum and Mason in the same road – an offence for which he has already been convicted.

Following a trial at Hendon Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Nina Tempia found him guilty of theft and two charges of handling stolen goods.

She said: “I found the defendant to be a dishonest, evasive and untruthful witness.”

He will be sentenced on April 3 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. As well as stealing the Potter book, Schonegger sold a stolen bound copy of The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, worth £700, on December 21, and a stolen first edition of Pincher Martin by William Golding, worth £150, on December 21 or 22.

The defendant denied making a habit of selling or collecting books, which the judge rejected as “nonsense”, saying: “He is known by antiquarian shops and I don’t accept for a moment he has no interest in selling books.”

Schonegger was arrested after booksellers who had bought his wares in the past recognised him from CCTV images circulated by Hatchards. He was fined £365 for his previous conviction for stealing a book, the court heard.