Author: Nick

A ROGUE AT THE SHOW

Described by Mr. E. L. Claridge, chairman of the magistrates, as an ‘Incorrigible rogue’, Bernard Shaw (26) was before the court on charges of theft after he kept a leather wallet and a driving licence that he apparently ‘found’ at the Royal Show on July 8th. Sergeant C. W. Skerritt said that Mr. David Foot of Weymouth left his jacket on a sheep pen while attending the show. When returning later he discovered that his wallet containing his driving licence and £15 in cash had disappeared. But surprisingly, Sergeant Skeritt pointed out to the court that “There is no suggestion that the accused stole the cash”. Shaw, who was arrested in Burnley, Lancashire, was married with a small child. He said in a statement that he started work at the Royal Show site for a building firm and while clearing out a stand he found the wallet. Shaw had numerous previous convictions. After pleading quilty to stealing by finding of the wallet and a driving licence, valued at 11 shillings, he was sent to prison for three long-months.

NOT ME CLAIMED MCNAMEE

Between half-past three and 4 o’clock on a Sunday morning, Mr Michael Scotcher of Offa Drive, found sleep impossible. There were noises, the sort that should not be heard at night, noises made by an un-welcome visitor, a thief. Mr. Scotcher went into his bathroom and noticed the window was wide open and there was a footmark on the window still. His trousers, which had been left on a chair were on the floor and 10 shillings had disappeared from one of the pockets. Police made inquires and Detective Sergeant John Smart questioned 19-year-old Patrick McNamee, also from Offa Drive, who lived only a few doors along from Mr Scotcher. When questioned, McNamee retorted; “You will have to prove it then, because it wasn’t me”. But later at the police station, McNamee admitted; “I want to tell you everything. It was me who done that house in Offa Drive”. He added; “The only reason I broke into the house was because I was out of work and desperate for money”. He was remanded in custody and his application for bail was refused due the gravity of the offence. He will appear, charged with theft, at the next Warwickshire Quarter Sessions.

PAIRED-UP AND PILFERED

Two naughty 10-year-old girls were conditionally discharged for a year at the juvenile court after they admitted stealing four sums of money. Mr. Michael Coker, representing one of the girls, said they both came from good homes and had not been in trouble before. It seemed that when they get together these things happened. It was like a new game to them. The girl’s horrified parents have undertook to try and keep them apart in the future, that’s the only solution.

BASH AND CASH MEN SET FOR SESSIONS

The adjourned case of two men was resumed at court on charges of assault on a policeman, and theft of money from telephone cash-boxes. “I’ll murder you, you b………….” was the alarming threat P.C. Highton was alleged to have heard when he apprehended 26-year-old William Anthony Bush, a factory worker from Leamington. He pleaded not guilty to the assault, so he was remanded by the court and will go forward to the next Warwickshire Quarter Sessions for trial. Also charged jointly with Bush, was Peter David Goode, a 25-year-old a press operator also from Leamington for stealing two telephone cash-boxes from kiosks in Kenilworth over the evening of August 22nd/23rd. They both pleaded quilty to the theft of the boxes. Goode was also remanded to the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions. Prosecuting, Mr. F. G. Owen said that in August there was an “outbreak” of telephone cash-box thefts in the areas of Kenilworth, Leamington and Warwick. So, police had been paying extra attention to the kiosks. The attacked police officer, P. C. Anthony John Highton stated; “At about 12.35 a.m. on August 23rd, as I was cycling towards the Blundells, I noticed a car parked at the enterance. “My attention was drawn to a telephone box in Albion Street because the light was out but saw a man crouching down inside it, so I got off my bike and walked towards the kiosk. Bush came out of the kiosk still crouching down. He seemed to have a bulky object under his jacket. He made off towards the Blundells and I went after him, and as I passed the kiosk I flashed my lamp inside and I saw that the cash-box had disappeared. I caught up with Bush and said; “I’m going to arrest you for stealing the cash container from the telephone kiosk”. I then cautioned him. “I went to take hold of his right arm, he swung round, taking an object from under his jacket and said “I’ll murder you, you b………..”. He aimed a blow at me which knocked my helmet off. “Before I took any avoiding action, he struck me again just above my left wrist with what appeared to be a metal instrument”. He was hit again and fell to the ground. Bush ran off down the Blundells and entered a waiting car. “I was able to take the registration number as it drove away.” said P.C. Highton. He then went to the telephone box in Albion Street and dialled 999 for assistance. He saw the car in which Bush and Goode had got away in travelling along Albion Street. He waved the vehicle to stop but it carried on past him. The car was soon stopped by a police patrol car and both were taken to the police station. In the car, P.C. Highton found two screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and a hammer. He also discovered a cash-box and a piece of metal about 16″ long which resembled a tyre lever. “It was the weapon Bush used on me when I tried to arrest him”, said the officer. In the boot of the car he found another cash-box which had been taken from a kiosk in Roseland Road. In the scuffle in the Blundells, P. C. Highton sustained a deeply lacerated left wrist, a bruised right elbow and a swollen left albow. He was off duty for eight days.

WENT BACK TO HIS EX-EMPLOYER THROUGH A BACK WINDOW

19-year-old Alan Fitchett of Finham Road had been made redundant from Kenilworth Bodies, in Whitemoor Road, but decided to return late one night and entered through a back window. Fitchett, still unemployed, appeared at court on a charge of stealing £12 from the premises of his ex-employer. He explained his misdeed by saying; “I was worried about my wife and I have no money to pay bills”. He was interviewed by Detective Sergeant John Smart, to whom he was alleged to have said; “It was not me”, but later admitted; “Alright then, I broke in there, it was me”. In a statement Fitchett said; “On Tuesday night last week I went for a drink then I decided to break into Kenilworth Bodies.” He also admitted stealing 22 shillings from an electricity meter in his home and breaking into the clubhouses of the Wardens Cricket Club and Kenilworth Cricket Club. There he did not find any money to pilfer. The decision of the bench was to send Fitchett to a detention centre for three months.

STOLE CAR KEYS TO PLAY SWAPS

Many youngsters collect and swap ‘fag’ cards. But three Kenilworth boys decided to that swapping stolen car ignition keys was a much better hobby. In front of the juvenile court, were a trio of boys, two aged 16 and the other 15. Each were fined £6 with 13s-9d in costs. Inspector Albert Cox said that on two occasions the boys stole a total of seven ignition keys from vehicles parked in the Bear and Ragged Staff car park. Detective-Constable Ian Rule, caught-up with one of the boys in the Abbey Fields, and he admitted the offences. When the other boys were interviewed they also confessed that they were involved with the thefts. The boys asked for nine other offences to be taken into consideration. Another 16-year-old Kenilworth boy was fined £1 with 13s-9d costs for receiving car keys. It was explained in court the boys took the keys to swap for others. Mrs L. Smalley, chairman, said the thefts were just “childish and stupid tricks”.

HELPED HERSELF FROM SELF-SERVICE STORE

The court was told, that whilst shopping at the Fine Fare self-service supermarket in Warwick Road, a 58-year-old Kenilworth spinster stole a pound of butter and some gammon. Housekeeper, Lilly Watts of Stoneleigh Ave, pleaded guilty to the thefts. Remarking about supermarkets, Inspector Albert Cox said; “These are places which display their goods to all and sundry, and there is a temptation for people just to take stuff”.

He said that Watts was shopping in the supermarket on 3rd September and was putting several articules into a basket. But the manager saw her slip the butter and gammon into her own basket. He told the cashier about the incident. After paying for the goods in the store’s basket, the cashier asked if she had anything else on her. 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. Winifred Ellen Bucknill of Mortimer Road, pleaded guilty to the theft.

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 all.

The bench was told she had previous convictions of a similar nature. The court showed no sympathy, and fined her a right packet – £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 tin 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’.

THE STAGGERING MAN

A Kenilworth man, Russell Carpenter of Warwick Road, appeared before the court on charges of being “drunk in charge of a motor-car”. Inspector Albert Cox said that at 10.50pm on Monday 11th November, P. C. Angus Dick saw Carpenter ‘staggering’ along Warwick Road and later watched him get into the driving seat of a car at the rear of the Bear and Ragged Staff public house. When questioned by the constable, Carpenter did not say anything. He was then taken to Kenilworth Police Station where a doctor stated that he was not fit to drive. (In other words, he was drunk as a judge). Mr W. H. Hibbs, defending, said that whilst in a pub, Carpenter surrendered the key of his car to a friend. Later, the defendant left the pub and as he walked along Warwick Road, the person to whom he had given the key, pulled up along side him and gave it back to him. He went to his car not to drive it but to lock it up, said Mr Hibbs. But the trouble was, he was inside the car. The magistrates did not believe a single word, and fined him a staggering £20 – more than a weeks-wages for a lot of people at the time.

“THERE’S NOTHING TO DO IN KENILWORTH“

There is a degree of truth in the often levelled criticism that there is ‘nothing to do in Kenilworth’. But it does not cut much ice when used as an excuse by the ‘nothing-to-doers’ to get mixed up with mischief and crime. Seven boys had an appointment at the juvenile court, where they got a frosty reception from the bench. All were Kenilworth lads between the ages of 13 and 16. They were either connected individually or jointly with a whole string of offences. They included break-ins and thefts from local cricket and football clubs. Namely, Kenilworth Cricket Club, Thomas Bates Cricket Club and Rangers Football Club. They were also involved in driving away motor-cars without the owners consent, driving without insurance, stealing car ignition keys and driving while under age, etc, etc. The case of the pilfering from the Thomas Bates pavillion which concerned three of the ‘magnificant seven’, aged 13, 14 and 16 was adjourned for three weeks, pending further inquires. Guilty pleads were entered on all the other charges. Penalties included, fines, probation, and disqualification from obtaining driving licences. In court, one of the older boys advanced the ‘nothing-to-do’ theme by stating to the bench; “This was not hooliganism, there is nothing to do in Kenilworth, we did it once and then we thought it was easy”. (Well, that’s alright then)

CHAT WITH HER PAL COST HER A FEW BOB

At court was Marion McMaster of Randall road, who, when she saw a former work colleague along Warwick Road decided to stop her car and have a natter. Trouble was, where she decided to park, only feet from a pedestrian crossing, was contrary to the highway-code, let alone dangerous and obstructive. A police officer booked her on the spot and the magistrates fined her £2 and endorsed her licence.

BEATLE FANS DAFT DANCE

“Although we appreciate that the Beatle’s music does do things to these young lads, I think this was going a bit too far, it was dangerous” said Inspector Albert Cox at the juvenile court. He was speaking during a case in which two 16-year-old boys were charged with wilfully obstructing the free passage of traffic. The bench heard that traffic was held up in Rosemary Hill because the two boys felt it was a good idea to start ‘Jiving and waving their arms about’ in the middle of the road with Beatle’s music blaring from a transistor radio held by friends on the pavement. Amongst the audience was by P. C. Victor Terry, who quickly stopped the boys performance. And for the record, their jiving on a ‘Long and winding road’, cost them fines of £1 each.

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