A Bag Full of Bottles
Carrying a bag full of bottled drinks he had stolen from a public house, a 14 year-old boy was riding a bicycle towards Coventry. Travelling in the opposite direction was a car-full of coppers. Two detectives and a constable. They had been tipped off about the robbery.
Constable Victor Sandel spotted the bag on the boy’s bike and thought he recognised the shape of bottles inside it. The boy was stopped and the bag was found to contain the stolen bottles. At first he denied taking them, saying that he had ‘found them in a ditch’. But on further questioning by PC Sandel, he admitted the offence.
We was charged at the juvenile court with stealing the property, valued at £1-8s-4d.
He said a glass window was half-broken, so he pulled the remaining piece out in order to gain enterance to the premises. The boy was conditionally discharged for 12 months.
The Invisible Park Road Halt-Sign?
At court, a theory as to why so many motorists fail to stop at the halt-sign at Park Road junction with Albion Street.
Inspector Albert Cox said that the sign on the wall of the ‘Wyandotte’ public house, indicated the direction to Towers Hospital in Park Hill. But, many motorists who are just looking for the hospital sign then miss the ‘halt’ notice, explained the inspector. He gave the theory after George Rouse of Bedworth, who was in court on a charge of careless driving at the said junction, where he had collided with another vehicle.
Rouse stated; “As long as I have been driving I have never seen a halt-sign so close to another road”. Inspector Cox said the other driver was Mr Tyler of Red Lane who was travelling along Albion Street in the direction of Mill End. Rouse drove out of Park Road and collided straight into Mr Tyler’s car.
Imposing a nominal fine of £2 on Rouse, the bench recommended that the ‘appropriate authority’ look into the position of the halt-sign’s. Kenilworth Council recently received a letter from the clerk of the magistrates court commenting on many previous observations of the signs. The local surveyor is checking upon them to see if they can be moved to a better position.
No Show at Court
Hotel worker William Clynch who was out on bail on a charge of maliciously inflicting grievious bodily harm upon Antonio Ruffolo, failed to appear at court to face the music. There is now a warrant out for his arrest.
It was stated in court, that Clynch an employee at Chesford Grange Hotel, wounded Ruffolo, who was at the time working in the hotel’s kitchen. Ruffolo, it was stated, had to attend hospital for his injuries resulting in him having seven stitches in his forehead and four in his nose.
Neglected Kids Often Begged for ‘Crusts’
Kenilworth man, Trevor John Steel of St. John Street who appeared before the court previously for neglecting his six children was placed on probation for three years. He had been remanded for three weeks pending further reports.
The magistrates said to him; “We feel that with help and guidance you should be able to overcome these difficulties and settle down”. At the previous hearing, the court heard how the children had worked in their spare-time, cleaning cars and doing odd jobs to raise money to pay for their Christmas dinner. Also, they had often gone to Mrs Steel’s mother, to beg for ‘crusts’.
A Fowl Business in Dalehouse Lane
Up before the bench was John Powell of Hall Close, Stoneleigh. He was charged with stealing poultry from a farm in Kenilworth. The 45 year-old, a Coventry abattoir worker earning £15-a-week, took out a ‘sideline’ of supplying chickens to various sources but it turned out to be a risky business venture.
Police had been informed that between last December and April this year, 72 fowl had gradually disappeared from Kingswood Farm in Dalehouse Lane. They were valued at £65.
Although efforts were made by the owners and police to prevent the thefts, the intruder still managed to enter the pens with foxy artfullness. Every night, said Inspector Albert Cox, the pens were securely locked but the thefts continued. A close watch was maintained and double doors were even fitted. But the intruder was not deterred.
Powell’s name was linked to the thefts and the police visited his home at Stoneleigh where they found he had 10 chickens, one of which was dead. He told the police that he had purchased them three months earlier. But on further questioning, he eventually admitted stealing the birds from the farm. He said; “I just kept taking them”. He added that the first twenty he stole he sold them in a Coventry pub and others around various parts of the city.
On placing Powell on three years probation, Mrs L. Smalley, presiding, said “If you go on in this way you will end up in prison”. He was said to have had a number of previous convictions. He was ordered to pay £70 compensation to the owners of the farm.