Potter and the vanishing books

THE muggle police report on the case of Harry Potter and the vanishing books could almost be a case of fact following fiction.

Despite a security operation unprecedented in publishing history, a criminal gang has managed to spirit away 7,680 copies of JK Rowling’s latest work in an audacious raid.

The author and Bloomsbury, the publishers, now face an anxious wait to see if details of the plot of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix will be leaked in advance of publication at midnight on Friday.

So far, only a few lines of the book have been officially released. The opening sentence reads: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive".

The effort to keep the rest of the plot - which includes the death of a key character - secret until 21 June is the subject of injunctions and a huge security operation covering the globe.

Daring thieves in the north-west of England managed to breach that security by targeting a trading estate in Merseyside, where thousands of copies of the book were being stored in advance of distribution in a fleet of lorries.

Using a stolen lorry cab, the thieves arrived at the depot of DPS Logistics in Newton-le- Willows on Sunday evening - after one of the hottest days of the year - where a gang member fooled security staff into believing he was authorised to take away a trailer loaded with the books. He hitched the wagon to the cab and drove away.

Police found the abandoned lorry in Salford, Greater Manchester, the following day, with all 7,680 copies of the book missing. If they were sold at the full cover price of 16.99 the load would be worth around 130,000 - but Rowling and her publisher would suffer a greater loss if details of the plot are leaked as a result of the theft.

Neil Blair, Rowling’s literary agent, said yesterday that the author was being kept closely informed of developments.

The stolen trailer belonged to TNT, the parcel delivery firm, and the consignment of books was destined for Asda supermarkets around the north of England. The fact that criminals are willing to go to such lengths to steal copies of a children’s book has illustrated the magnitude of the Harry Potter phenomenon.

Earlier this month, Donald Parfitt, a forklift truck driver, was ordered to do 180 hours of community service after he admitted stealing pages from the novel at the printing firm where he worked.

Magistrates in Lowestoft, Suffolk, heard how Parfitt, 44, found the pages in the firm’s car park, put them in his lunchbox and then tried to sell them to the Sun newspaper.

The gang responsible for stealing the consignment of Harry Potter books from Newton-le-Willows would be risking detection if they attempted to sell them on the black market before Saturday.

However, they will also be aware that the value of the books will plummet at one minute past midnight on Friday, with some booksellers offering huge discounts of more than 50 per cent off the cover price.

Merseyside Police have warned the public that anyone handling the book before Saturday in anything other than a legitimate manner could face criminal charges.

Bloomsbury said that if anyone does gain an advance copy and is tempted to leak details of the plot in advance of Saturday, they are liable to prosecution.

"An injunction already in place prevents any publication of the contents or a summary of the book prior to 21 June and requires the return of the books to Bloomsbury," said a spokesman for the publishers.