By Paul Sims
Last updated at 2:10 AM on 14th July 2008
Her name is Rios and she dances on the sand.
Planting a kiss on the Cuban starlet's cheek is Raymond Scott - the
man at the centre of the £15million Shakespeare manuscript mystery.
He and Miss Rios - first name Heidy - are engaged to be married, it
emerged yesterday, as did more details of the extraordinary lifestyle of
Mr Scott, who is
protesting his innocence in the Shakespeare affair.
Havana girl: A shiny-suited Mr Scott with nightclub dancer Heidy Rios
Havana girl: A shiny-suited Mr Scott with nightclub dancer Heidy Rios
The 51-year-old book dealer was arrested last Thursday and quizzed at
length over the disappearance of a Shakespeare First Folio, regarded as
the most important printed work in the English language, before being
released on bail.
Yesterday he insisted the copy he had was not the one stolen among
several items of astonishing rarity from Durham University's library ten
years ago, as has been claimed.
At home in the kitchen of the two-bed semi he shares with his
80-year-old mother Hannah, he explained how he had come by the book -
and his fiancee, a 21-year-old dancer.
With a Cuban cigar in one hand and a glass of Dom Perignon in the other,
he said: 'We met about eight months ago at the National Hotel of Cuba.
She was dancing there, as well as at the Club Tropicana, and we got to
know each other very well in a short space of time.
'I have been going to Cuba for the last 12 years - since I started to
smoke cigars.'
They plan to marry in November at the Diana Memorial Garden in Havana,
he said, adding: 'She's lovely.'
As for the Shakespeare book, he said he had not bought it. He had been
contacted by three friends in Cuba who had allowed him to take it out of
the country so that experts could confirm its authenticity.
To that end, he said, he presented it to the Folger Shakespeare Library
in Washington DC.
Far from wanting to sell it he wanted to publicise his 'discovery'.
Instead library staff alerted the FBI, which contacted the British
Embassy, which contacted Durham University, which contacted the police.
It all culminated in a raid last week on Mr Scott's two-bed semi in
Washington, Tyne and Wear, during which detectives seized more than 60
boxes of books.
An indignant Mr Scott said: 'I have done nothing wrong. I came by the
manuscript through contacts in Cuba and took it to the Folger
Shakespeare Library.
'I even suggested the Washington Post should be contacted about my
discovery, which is not the act of a person with something to hide.
'I'm afraid the celebrations at the University of Durham were premature
- it is not the manuscript that was stolen. The police are welcome to
ask me anything, including my inside leg measurement, which for the
record is 31-and-a-half inches, but I've not done anything wrong.'
'They took away boxes of books. Most of them were new and could be
bought at Waterstone's. They also caused great anxiety for my sainted
mother, but other than that achieved nothing.'
Neighbours of Mr Scott say he lives a lavish lifestyle - driving a
succession of flashy cars including Lamborghinis, a Rolls-Royce, an
Aston Martin and now a Ferrari.
Mr Scott said the cars were paid for by his mother out of an inheritance
left for her by his father, an electrical engineer, who died in 2004.
He admitted there have been holidays to Monte Carlo, Monaco and, of
course, Cuba, plus expensive suits and Rolex watches.
'Again, with the trips abroad, my mother has paid for those,' he said.
Indeed, far from being rich, he claims he is receiving incapacity
benefit and a carer's allowance.
Mr Scott said he is meeting his legal team tomorrow to discuss the
police interview and to find an expert to prove that the book is not the
stolen one.
But Durham University last night insisted the book had been identified
by experts as the one stolen from its library.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1034787/Ive-wrong-The-Shakespeare-suspect-Cuban-cutie.html
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