A "TOME raider" from York who plundered rare antiquarian books worth £1.1 million from libraries has been given three months to pay £310,000 - or face another two years in jail.

William Jacques is already serving four years for stealing more than 400 historic books, including first editions by Sir Isaac Newton and Italian genius Galileo.

The former chartered accountant, from Maida Vale, north west London, but originally from the York area, sold the books at auction houses in the UK and Germany.

Now he faces a huge clawback after detectives uncovered a fortune deposited in a bank account in Havana, Cuba, the court heard.

Most of the famous works have been recovered, but he faces having to pay £310,000 to meet compensation, confiscation and costs orders to libraries which he plundered.

Judge Derek Inman confiscated £62,482 from the account, saying he had benefited from his criminal conduct in that sum. Jacques was also ordered to pay £57,658.68 to the London Library and £15,156.54 to Cambridge Univer-sity Library in compensation.

The judge also ordered him to pay £175,000 in costs, made up of £15,000 to the London Library, £100,000 to Cambridge and £60,000 to the Crown.

Passing sentence at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, Judge Derek Inman branded him a "dishonest young man" who had squandered his educational advances in life.

"The books were valuable in two ways - their extreme rarity, irreplaceability and historical importance. Their replacement will, I am sure, be impossible.

"Secondly, their value from a financial point of view," the judge told him.

Jacques, a former tax consultant for Shell, who lived with his parents in York while awaiting trial, was convicted by a jury on 19 counts of theft dating from between October 1996 and May 1991 a year ago.

Earlier this month, he admitted two further counts of theft. Twelve remaining charges were left on the file.

Jacques was captured when auction houses in Britain and Germany spotted that books he lodged for sale had been tampered with to disguise the fact that they were stolen.

Judge Inman said: "The defendant chose to contest the strong case against him."

Updated: 11:30 Friday, May 24, 2002