Thief steals 8.000 copies of latest Harry Potter books

10.am

LONDON - The hottest property in publishing just got hotter.

Days before the latest Harry Potter book goes on sale to an increasingly expectant public, an audacious raider has driven off with a lorryload of nearly 8,000 copies.

Despite the presence of closed-circuit television cameras and security guards, the lone thief drove into a distribution centre in a stolen cab, showed officials false paperwork and drove away with some of the most jealously guarded books in history worth about (pounds sterling)130,000.

Yet the book trade said last night (Tues) that the weekend raid may have been in vain.

Stolen copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - the most anticipated book since the fourth in the series was released three years ago - would be virtually impossible to sell on.

"Perhaps he thought it would be an enormous quantity of Rothmans (cigarettes)," said Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers' Association yesterday.

The trailer of books was stolen from a trading estate at Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside on Sunday, and was part of the huge operation to move copies around the country before the book goes on sale on Saturday.

Police said security staff were duped by the driver's false papers and allowed him to hook his truck to the trailer containing 7,680 books and drive it off.

The trailer, owned by distribution company TNT, was discovered abandoned 20 miles away in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Monday afternoon, without any of the books, cover price (pounds sterling)16.99, inside.

Police believe the driver headed overnight to a road by a quiet trading estate where the pallets of books would have been unloaded and moved.

Officers last night did not rule out an inside job but said the driver may not have known what he was stealing.

None of the trailers parked at the trading estate carried distinctive markings indicating what was inside other than a TNT logo.

The company said it was launching its own investigation.

Chief Inspector John Martin, leading the investigation, said: "We don't know if he was targeting these books or if it was speculative.

It really has generated a lot of interest and he will find it very difficult to get of them.

"Police warned potential readers offered cheap copies of the books before publication date not to be tempted.

"We want to warn members of the public that if they handle the book between now and Saturday in any way other than legitimately, they may face criminal charges," a spokeswoman said.

Author JK Rowling is aware of the crime and is being kept informed, her agents said.

Publishers Bloomsbury declined to comment on the security operation behind the launch but said: "An injunction, already in place, prevents any publication of the contents or a summary of the book prior to June 21 and requires the return of the books to Bloomsbury.

"Despite the clamour for copies of the book - the first four have sold almost 200 million copies in 55 languages and 200 countries - the industry said few sellers would consider the risk of handling stolen copies.

There were fears the stolen books could end up being sold over the internet.

Online auctioneer eBay already had copies advertised but would not change hands until after the official launch.

Many outlets are offering the book at huge discounts anyway in a fierce battle for customers.

Few shops were going to make money on them, said the Booksellers' Association.

Godfrey George, manager of Baggins Book Bazaar, one of Britain's largest second-hand bookshops in Rochester, Kent, said: "The main sellers won't touch them with a bargepole.

It's going to be hard to hide that amount of books even before you try to sell them on.

They could have been stolen for a foreign market.

"The book will be launched simultaneously in Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and in English in other countries.

The new book is over a third longer than author JK Rowling's previous book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was the fastest selling book in history on the first weekend of its publication in July 2000.

Earlier this month forklift driver Donald Parfitt was ordered to complete 180 hours of community service after he admitted stealing pages from the new novel at the printing firm where he worked and tried to sell them to The Sun newspaper.


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