A SELF-STYLED international playboy jailed for handling a priceless stolen Shakespeare volume has been found dead in prison.

Raymond Rickett Scott was pronounced dead at Acklington prison, in Northumberland, at about 8.40am yesterday after being found unconscious in his cell.

The flamboyant antiques dealer, 55, was convicted of handling Durham University’s stolen Shakespeare First Folio and removing it from the UK at Newcastle Crown Court in July 2010 and later jailed for eight years. His death came only a week before his appeal against the convictions was due to be heard at London’s Court of Appeal.

A Prison Service spokesman said as with all deaths in custody, the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman would conduct an investigation.

“This seems to be a selfinflicted serious act of selfharm,”

he said.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “Inquiries are being carried out into the death. At this moment, there is believed to be no third party involvement.”

Mike Kelly, who with Scott co-authored an upcoming book on his case, said: “I’m shocked and saddened. I still don’t know what to make of it.

“I genuinely liked him and saw him as a friend. I enjoyed his company. He drove me mad at times, but he’s not quite the waster people made him out to be.”

At his trial, Scott, previously of Wingate, County Durham, was accused of stealing the 1623 First Folio from Durham University’s Palace Green Library in December 1998.

It remained missing for a decade, only reappearing when Scott produced it at the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington DC, US, in June 2008.

Experts at the Folger quickly recognised the tome and called in the British Embassy and the FBI. Scott claimed he had acquired it in Cuba.

He was arrested in July 2008 in Washington, Wearside, where, despite having never worked and sharing a house with his elderly mother, he presented himself as an international playboy, swigging champagne, driving a Ferrari and smoking Cuban cigars.

There then followed a string of eccentric court appearances, with Scott playing evermore bizarre characters.

He was cleared of theft but convicted of handling and transporting stolen goods.