Bookseller walks free after stealing Harry Potter novel worth £1,675

AN Italian bookseller who stole a signed Harry Potter edition worth £1,675 in a “professional, targeted operation” has been given a suspended sentence.

Rudolf Schonegger, 55, snatched the rare copy of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, signed by author JK Rowling, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London, last Hogmanay.

CCTV showed him browsing the shop before making an audacious switch with another novel while a worker had her back turned. A copy of Late Call by Angus Wilson was found in the place of the Potter book.

Schonegger was found guilty of theft and two charges of handling stolen goods.

During a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he was given a 26-week custodial sentence for the theft, suspended for 24 months, and four-week sentences for each other charge to run concurrently, also suspended.

He was ordered to pay Hatchards £1,675, and booksellers Peter Ellis and Peter Harrington, who bought the stolen goods, a total of £410 for money lost.

The book has yet to be recovered.

He was arrested after booksellers who had previously bought his wares recognised him from circulated CCTV images.