National Records Thief Caught

This is a Scotland news story, published by BBC, that relates primarily to Dr Borthwick news.

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national records thief

BBC

•

Entertainment

The 30-year quest to catch a national records thief

Summary

Nutrition label

65% Informative

Prof David Stirling Macmillan stole thousands of historical documents from Scotland 's national archives.

He had been helping himself since 1949 with a particular interest in stamps and postmarks.

Prof MacMillan 's right to use the archives had been revoked in 1980 after he was caught removing a document.

He moved to Trent University in Canada in 1968 and spent 20 years teaching history.

But, for Dr Borthwick , how does it feel to know that a fellow archivist so egregiously abused the trust that was put in him? The historian labels it "a kick in the teeth". He's been trying to undo the damage done by Prof Macmillan for almost all of his working life. That time could have been spent on other historical projects. But Dr Borthwick reflects that there's a "sense of satisfaction" in solving the mystery of the missing documents. Documents that, these days , are kept under the watchful eye of CCTV ..

VR Score

Informative language

Neutral language

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful