Melvin West, 70, of Chingford, east London, was sentenced at Bromley Magistrates' Court for theft, criminal damage, and possession of a bladed article. The court heard West viewed the 1684 double hemisphere world map, known as Nova Orbis Tabula, at the National Maritime Museum's library on multiple occasions in December 2024 and the day before its theft. Staff discovered a knife on the floor of the viewing room and subsequently found the map had been cut out.
West was arrested at his home in March 2025, but the map was not recovered. He pleaded guilty in May. The prosecution stated the complete atlas was worth approximately £50,000, with the map alone potentially fetching £6,000 on the black market. The atlas is now valued at £20,000, but the court was told the cultural loss far exceeds the financial damage.
West's defense barrister, Jessica Flain, informed the court that West had partially paid someone to restore the map, but the restorer refused to return it until the full fee was settled. She requested a seven-day adjournment for a friend to pay the balance and for West to deliver the map to Charing Cross Police Station. Judge Charlotte Welsh denied this request, stating she did not believe West's claims.
The judge recalled that West had previously told the court in June that he could return the map within seven days, and in August that it was with a friend and he would retrieve it after heart surgery. "Again, that appears to have been a lie," Judge Welsh remarked. "You were charged in February. You have had eight months to return the map." She expressed belief that West had a buyer in mind and had stolen the map "to order."
Court documents revealed West has 27 convictions for 107 offenses in the UK and abroad, primarily for dishonesty, including 41 thefts. His prior convictions include burglary in Hungary in 2011 and theft in France in 2013, and he had been convicted under multiple identities.
Flain described West, a father of two, as "ashamed and embarrassed," attributing his actions to debt and difficulties meeting basic living costs, calling it "a short-term, pressured decision by an elderly man living in difficult circumstances."
Judge Welsh emphasized the map's "international cultural significance" and stated the damage had "permanently diminished what can be learned from it." She noted that the two available digital copies of the atlas are incomplete. West received a three-year sentence for criminal damage, with concurrent sentences of 16 months for theft and six months for possessing a bladed article. The judge refused to suspend the sentence, deeming immediate custody necessary "to deter other people from doing precisely what you have."