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Detective denies Harry Potter scam
Nov 20 2002
By Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post
A Birmingham police officer duped book dealers into paying for first edition Harry Potter books in an Internet scam, the city's Crown Court was told.
In fact none of the dealers got what they wanted and the officer "hid behind" his 11-year-old step-son by claiming it was the youngster who had been dealing with them, it was alleged.
Det Con Andrew Burt (32) of Hollands Way, Pelsall, Walsall, has denied three charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception and one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mr John Attwood, prosecuting, said Burt, who was based at Stechford police station, "hit upon a potential money making scheme."
He went on: "Then and now the Harry Potter books by author J K Rowling were very popular and they are not just popular with children.
"The rare first edition, first print copies of her books were and are highly sought after by book collectors and dealers." He said people with that sort of interest were willing to pay a great deal of money for them and that the way of identifying first editions was by their print number.
"Burt decided to offer to sell such prized editions to interested parties on the Internet, the problem for the purchaser was that the defendant did not have a supply of these books to sell," said Mr Attwood.
He added that "not surprisingly" once the dealers did not receive what they had paid for, they complained and Burt, anticipating this, used the identity of his stepson Simon Ward to frustrate their attempts to get their money back.
Mr Attwood said one of the dealers to be taken in was American bookseller Roy Robbins from California who was contacted by e-mail by Burt, who was posing as his stepson.
Mr Robbins agreed to pay over £600 for two sets of first edition Harry Potter books.
They did not arrive but he then paid £2,500 for a second consignment which he did receive but when he examined them none of them in fact were first editions, said Mr Attwood.
When arrested and interviewed Burt admitted using his stepson's identity but claimed he had not been dishonest and had supplied what the two dealers had asked for.
