Travel guides will be more noticeably on display in London and the South East this week after a man was found guilty of stealing tens of thousands of Rough Guides, A-Zs and Lonely Planet books to sell on stalls around London.

Many retailers said they had resorted to concealing travel guides behind their cash tills because up to 50 at a time were being pocketed by members of a band of thieves led by Ronald Jordan, 62, of Finchley.

'Jordan's criminal activities were having a huge impact on both publishers and retailers in the South East,' said Inspector Andy Manning, the officer in charge of the case. 'This was a hugely challenging inquiry due to the nature of Jordan's dealings, but this guilty verdict will be greatly welcomed by the book industry.'

For four or five years Jordan paid thieves to steal books to order, then he sold them on to the unsuspecting public. He sold about 100 books a day; 30-40 on a stall in Dominion Street in the City each afternoon, then about 60 more at Waterloo where he stayed until midnight. It is estimated he sold 35,000 books in one year.

Suspicions were raised about Jordan's stalls in 2002. A long investigation by the Metropolitan Police led to the recovery of 17,500 books worth an estimated £180,000 from his premises in July 2002. The case went to trial but was abandoned because of a procedural issue. Jordan was arrested again last July after a surveillance operation carried out by the City of London Police led to the seizure of 8,500 more books.

He was found guilty of handling stolen goods and conspiracy to steal by Southwark Crown Court on 16 January this year, along with members of his network.

John Sadler, managing director of Lonely Planet, said: 'There's a real feeling of relief. This has been going on for so long, it got to the stage where we started to question whether he'd ever be convicted.'

Lonely Planet's relationship with retailers was put under pressure by the thefts, as many shops had removed its books from their shelves to protect them from thieves, meaning sales dropped. 'It's the beginning of the end when customers have to ask to see books,' said Sadler.

The travel bookshop Stanfords, in Covent Garden, had been a victim of the thieves for years, despite increased security measures such as CCTV and security tagging. Store managers joined forces with other retailers including Waterstones, W.H. Smith and Borders to form the 'Booksellers Association Loss Prevention Consortium', which discovered a ring of book thieves operating in their stores.

Up to five or six shoplifters suspected of being involved in the operation had been turned over to the police by Stanfords staff each month. The company's retail director, Frank Watson, said it was incredibly frustrating to walk past Jordan's book stalls, knowing some of the stock might have been stolen from his store. 'What was most frustrating was the customers. It should have been clear that the books were stolen goods, yet even when I pointed that out, people still bought them because they were cheap.'

Sadler said: 'If anybody gets to operate near this scale, the police and industry can find a way to stop it.'