THIS is the moment a brazen thief steals an antique map from a museum atlas worth £50,000.
Melvin West, 70, has been sentenced for three years in today after he stole the map for a secret buyer.
Footage from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich shows the crook sitting at a desk in The Caird Library on February 26, 2025.
With his hair tied back and wearing glasses, Melvin peers over the map, pretending to inspect it closer.
The map, from 1684, depicts Dutch cartographer Frederick de Wit’s double hemisphere 100 Nova Orbis – one of only three in the world.
He then pulls a Stanley blade out from his jumper, and cuts a page out of the atlas in one quick motion.
Melvin then turns around to see if anyone is watching him before closing the book and swiping the map.
He hides it in his jumper and prepares the atlas before returning it to the library’s front desk.
The museum estimates the atlas’ value at £50,000 – reduced to £20,000 after West’s damage with the map page alone worth £6,000 on the black market.
Video of Melvin being questioned by a detective show him hunched over the table and appearing very agitated.
The officer asks him: “So, really simple question, where is the map now?Did you sell the map? Did you destroy the map?”
Melvin, from Chingford, replies “no comment” to all of the questions.
Following an , police raided his home on March 4 last year, and searched for the map page, which Melvin claims is with a restorer who will not release it until he is paid in full.
It was also revealed that between 1969 and 2015, Melvin was sentenced for a total of 107 offences in the UK and continental Europe.
The father-of-two has previously served lengthy prison sentences for drug dealing in this country, been locked-up in for burglary and sentenced for theft in .
Today, Melvin pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the antique atlas; stealing the antique map and being in possession of a yellow and black retractable Stanley knife.
In the lead up to the trial, Melvin dangled the prospect of retrieving the map page he cut out, obtaining at least two court adjournments and even asking for another chance today to retrieve it.
As well as being given a three year prison sentence, Melvin was also made subject to a ten-year Criminal Behaviour Order, which prohibits him entering any museum or library room unsupervised.
Judge Welsh said: “This item is of international cultural significance. It is unique, it is bespoke and experts from all over the world travel to Greenwich to study that map.
“You have a very, very long of offending in this country and other European countries. You are a career criminal.
“You were stealing a highly significant niche item of high value. Someone stealing an item like that knows what damage they are causing.
“There was a high degree of planning and pre-meditation. You have not changed your ways, it is a reflection of who you are, a person of dishonest character.”
Detective Constable Sophie Hayes, of the Met’s Art and Antiques Unit, said: “We are appealing to anyone who has knowledge of the map’s whereabouts to do the right thing and contact the so that it can be returned to the library.
“The Caird Library is an internationally important resource, used by scholars the world over.
“Thefts like this mean the only people who profit from these beautiful artefacts are the thieves themselves.
A Royal Museums Greenwich spokesperson said: “We are pleased the criminal case, on which we co-operated closely with the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit, has been brought to a close.”
The museum also described it as a “symbolic work of art” and the “harm goes far beyond the monetary value”.
