A YORK-BASED graduate who stole more than £1 million worth of rare antiquarian books from top British libraries has been jailed for four years.

Cambridge University graduate William Jacques, 33, who stole more than 400 historical books including first editions by Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo, now faces a huge clawback to compensate the libraries.

The former chartered accountant, who was dubbed the "tome raider" by detectives, ransacked hundreds of the rare books and sold them at auction houses in the UK and Germany.

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

The judge told Jacques that security at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and London Library, where the books were taken, had been stepped up as a result of his scam.

Jacques, who stayed with his parents in York while awaiting trial, was convicted by a jury of 19 counts of theft between October 1996 and May 1999 during a trial one year ago.

This week he pleaded guilty to two further counts of theft; 12 remaining charges were left on the file. He was said to have stolen 412 books worth £1.1 million.

Outside the court, Detective Constable Paul Howitt, who led the investigationm, said: "I consider Mr Jacques to be an arrogant and greedy man who tried to make easy money."

Shortly after his arrest in 1999, Jacques fled to Cuba, leaving a note with his solicitor telling detectives that he had hidden books in safe deposit boxes in London, Cambridge and York.

When detectives raided the boxes, they discovered more than 60 rare books, and a forgery kit.

Many of the books suffered irreparable damage at his hands.

Jacques returned to Britain six weeks later and was arrested.

Annette Henry, for Jacques, told the judge her client had returned from Cuba knowing he would face "having the book thrown at him".

She added: "He was a young man who had lost his way."

Jacques was sentenced to four years jail concurrent on each of the 19 counts of theft on which he was found guilty by the jury last year. He was also given concurrent sentences of three years for the two theft charges he admitted this week.

Updated: 11:24 Friday, May 03, 2002