Helped Herself at the Self-Service Store
The court was told, a 58 year-old Kenilworth spinster stole a pound of butter and a packet of gammon whilst shopping in the Fine Fare, self-service supermarket in Warwick Road. Lilly Watts of Stoneleigh Ave, who was employed as a housekeeper, pleaded guilty to the thefts. Supermarkets, remarked Inspector Albert Cox, “These are places which display their goods to all and sundry and there is a temptation for people to take stuff”.
He said that Watts was shopping in the supermarket on September 3rd and was putting several articules into a basket provided by the store. But the manager saw her slip the butter and gammon into her own basket. He told the cashier about the incident. Asked by the cashier, after paying for the goods in the store’s basket, if she had anything else, Watts said she had not. But when the manager approached her, Watts admitted the thefts. She was fined £2.
Cigs Cost Her Nearly £1 Each
At court, a 48 year-old Kenilworth woman alleged to be earning £9-a-week, stole 30 cigarettes from the self-service supermarket, Fine Fare in Warwick Road. She is Winifred Ellen Bucknill of Mortimer Road, who pleaded guilty.
Inspector Albert Cox said that Bucknill was shopping in the supermarket at around 12.45p.m. on October 8th. The store’s assistant manager saw her take the cigarettes and place them in a basket provided by the store. When she went to pay she did not declare them to the cashier. When the manager questioned her she said she had not taken them. But later, when the police were called, she admitted the theft.
The bench was told that she had previous convictions of a similar nature. The court showed no sympathy and fined her a right packet of £25.
Not So Clever Litter Lout
Norman Parkinson of Coventry was not so clever as he ought to have been when he set out to dump a pile of junk which included, three tins cans, a pedal operated bin, cardboard boxes, paper, bricks, a cement bag, a car battery and a box of rubbish. The place he chose to convert into a wayside tip was a country lane, Cryfield Grange Road, which connects the Coventry Road to Crackley Lane.
To the defendant’s dismay, he was traced by the painstaking work of a policeman, who discovered amongst the junk a bit of paper bearing his name and address. Which proved very useful.
The magistrates dumped a fine of £5 on Mr. Parkinson for ‘depositing litter’.