A 70-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison for removing a historic map from a 350-year-old atlas housed at the National Maritime Museum’s Caird Library in London. Melvin West, a career offender with numerous past convictions for theft and dishonesty across Europe and the UK, was also issued a criminal behaviour order preventing him from being alone in any museum or library reading room in England and Wales for the next ten years.

West cut out the map, titled Nova Orbis Tabula, with a Stanley knife during a visit to the library on February 26 of last year. The map, created by Dutch cartographer Frederick de Wit in 1684, is a double hemisphere world map valued at approximately £6,000 on the black market and is regarded as an artifact of international cultural significance. The atlas from which the map was taken is a key resource for scholars worldwide.

According to court details, West had registered for a library reader’s card and viewed the atlas multiple times before the theft. Staff discovered a knife left behind in the reading room around 3 p.m., and CCTV footage showed West cutting out the map and concealing it in his clothing. Despite promising its return during subsequent interactions with police and museum officials, the map has not been recovered.

West pleaded guilty in May to charges of theft, criminal damage, and possession of a bladed article at Bromley magistrates’ court. Judge Charlotte Welsh, presiding over the case at Woolwich crown court, condemned West’s actions, stating he caused “untold damage to a historical artefact” motivated by his “venal nature.” He was sentenced to three years for criminal damage, with concurrent sentences of 16 months for theft and six months for possession of a blade.

The National Maritime Museum highlighted the broader impact of the theft, noting that the loss undermines the atlas’s bibliographical integrity. In a victim impact statement, the museum indicated they have spent thousands of pounds enhancing security measures and expressed concern that the incident might encourage similar crimes targeting valuable items in their collection.

West’s record includes 27 convictions for 107 offences, predominantly theft and dishonesty-related crimes, both in the UK and abroad. The criminal behaviour order aims to limit any future risk posed by West within cultural institutions. The case underscores ongoing challenges that museums face in protecting rare and historically significant materials from targeted theft.