Off to the Nick For a Seven Pence Trick
Two local men were charged at court with 6 offences of obtaining the sum of 7d from each of 6 residents in the Castle Hill area – by means of a trick. The men were employed by a local coal dealer to deliver to each respective customer, two cwts of coal. They were given a list of the customers which gave full particulars of the load and the price to be charged.
The two men, Cyril Lewis Winter of Birches Cottages, Leek Wootton and Charles Alfred Cox of Guy Road, Kenilworth, charged customers 7/6d, the charge of which should have been 6/11d, an overcharge of 7d. The accused asked for 80 other offences to be taken into consideration, and it was stated that 19 of the people overcharged, were old-age pensioners, of which 16 were widows and 26 were over the age of 60 years. All were working-class people.
The bench had little sympathy with the accused men. According, Mr. F. Lee, chairman, sentenced each of them to 3 months in prison on all 6 counts. The sentences would run concurrently, luckily for the men.
Dairyman Who Sold Too Much Milk
Kenneth Gee of the Bungalows, Grounds farm was before the bench on the none payment of a £360 fine. This was imposed on him last September for selling milk in excess of the quantity allowed by law.
Gee stated that all his assets were tied-up in the dairy business in which he was in partnership with his brother. He was receiving £15-a-month in wages and the 4.5 acres of agricuitural land which he owned was secured against a bank overdraft. He offered to pay £10 a month and the bench commented that, as he had already paid back £100, it would take over two years to clear the balance.
After a short retirement, the magistrates ordered Mr. Gee to pay £20 per month or in default, three months imprisonment. (A bit harsh)
The Army Isn’t for Him
In March, James Morris of Rouncil Lane, was summoned to court on charges of desertion from the army. He was remanded in custody by the bench, to await a miltary escort. When arrested, he stated, ‘I am a deserter, I don’t like the army’.
Randall Road from the ‘Middle Ages’
In a letter, Harold Williams of 39, Randall Road, wrote that he had withheld his rate payments due to the lack of attention to his road. Although houses had been occupied for the past 15 years or so, as yet, no surface had been laid down, on either the road or footpath. When summoned to court for non-payment of his rates, he offered to pay 10s a week. He added that stop-cocks are without lids, bringing danger to children or adults when out after dark. In addition, after the slightest of showers, the road is flooded, sufficent enough for even a toddler to be drowned. He also stressed that the condition of this road is worse than ones in ‘Middle Ages’, at a time when garbage was thrown into the streets. The rate-collector said that the state of the road was not the issue here. An application for distress was granted by the court.