A FATHER who stole a rare first edition Harry Potter book from an exhibition at an art gallery was sent to prison yesterday.

Kevin McGirr, from Kidlington, removed the sought-after book from under a Perspex box while it was on display at a Woodstock art gallery in October.

The copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was one of just 400 printed before the tales of boy wizard became a global sensation.

The version, worth £5,995 had even been signed by author J.K. Rowling and was being shown at an exhibition at the Creative Art Gallery, prior to being sold.

After entering the gallery while the assistant was speaking to a visiting family, McGirr took just four minutes to steal the valuable tome from its display and walk out with it hidden under his jacket.

“The gallery assistant did not notice anything suspicious at the time the gallery closed at 5pm. It was not until the following morning that she noticed the Harry Potter book was missing,” prosecutor Nicola Freestone told magistrates at Banbury.

“She then viewed the CCTV system back to when the defendant entered the store and saw that four minutes later the defendant had lifted the book out and concealed it on his person and left the gallery.”

McGirr, 40, was arrested on November 17 last year, two days after police released CCTV images showing the theft.

The book was found 15 miles from the gallery, in Abingdon, and was discovered by a burger van owner who handed it into the police.

McGirr had originally denied stealing the book, but changed his plea to guilty on what would have been the start of his trial.

Stuart Matthews, defending, told magistrates that McGirr had been under immense stress at the time of the theft because his brother, mother and sister had all been suffering with various forms of cancer.

He said he had also been under pressure because he had lost his house renovation business because of the recession, and that his latest relationship had ended after McGirr stole the book as his partner’s children had been bullied at school.

“He feels like it is the most foolish thing he has ever done for a long period of time and he cannot explain why he did it,” said Mr Matthews.

The court was told that McGirr had previous criminal convictions, including a theft of some tools in May last year for which he was given a conditional discharge – breached by the theft of the Harry Potter novel.

McGirr, of Oxford Road, Kidlington, was jailed for six weeks and told he would serve another one week concurrently for breaching his conditional discharge.

He was also ordered to pay court costs of £400 and £250 to cover the cost of an insurance excess paid by the gallery for damage to the book.