India, Oct. 24 -- In a museum heist that damaged an irreplaceable 1684 atlas, a UK man has been jailed for using a knife to slice out and steal a 350-year-old map, only to stubbornly refuse to reveal its whereabouts. CCTV captured Melvin West cutting the Dutch cartographic masterpiece from the Caird Library's collection at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich before slipping it under his clothing. While the Met's Art and Antiques Unit tracked down and arrested West, the thief answered "no comment" to interrogations, keeping the artefact unaccounted for.

"Melvin West, 72 (21.05.1954), was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday, 22 October after pleading guilty at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Tuesd...