TRAP BY ACTRESS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 153, 10 April 1933, Page 8

TRAP BY ACTRESS

RETURN OF JEWELLERY , OFFER BY BOGUS THIEF How an actress set a trap for a man who said he had stolen jewellery worth £1650 from her house was tola .to the Marylebone magistrate in London recently. George Smith, aged 28, tiler, of Miteham ■Koad, West Croydon , s was charged with being concerned with another man in attempting to obtain by false pretences .£IOO from Miss Prudence Wise, a former famous Follies girl. Smith pleaded guilty and the police withdrew a warrant against the second man referred to. on the ground that ho was believed to be a myth. Detective-Sergeant Leach explained that on January 26 Miss Wise's house was broken into and jewellery worth £1650 stolen. On January 29 Miss Wise was called up on the telephone by a_ man who described himself as the thief, and' said he had her jewellery and would return it for £250. 'Later, another message was received, apparently from the same man, asking that £IOO. in 10s notes should he taken to an appointed place at four o'clock on January 30, and promising thai the jewellery should be returned next day. A dummy parcel was made up. Miss Wise kept the appointment and when Smith turned up to collect the parcel he was arrested. He then stated that an acquaintance of his, known to him as "Joey," had sent him for the parcel, but" he did not know what he was to collect. The officer added that extensive observation had been kept with a view to tracing the mysterious Joey, and for two days Smith hau joined in the search, but no such man could be found. _

In a. secoflAiStateiheht to the police, added Detective-Sergeant Leach, Smith told him that in the course of conversation Joey had referred to the ease of the assessor Bell, and remarked that it was an easy way to get money. That, he said, was what inspired this attempt to defraud. His story was that he was to take the £IOO te Joey and that they were to return the jewellery, but in fact they had no jewellery to return. Miss Wise told the magistrate the man on the telephone said lie had her jewellery and added, "It may be we can come to some arrangement/' Miss Wise added that she agreed to everything ho said, and the mysterious caller rang off, saying that he would probably ring again that evening. She at once telephoned to the'police, and Eletective-Sergeant Leach was present when the second call came through. She answered it and the same voice directed : that she should take £IOO in 10s notes the following afternoon to the corner of Mount Street. The Magistrate: What were you to get in return for the £100? Miss Wise: Nothing that day. I was asked to rely on his word of honour that the following day he would return the whole of my jewellery. Smith .said that it was "Joey" who was behind this attempt to defraud. The Magistrate: You are still keeping up that story?—lt is the only one I know. Smith added that Joey was a real person and that he had done his best to assist the police to find him. The Magistrate: Even if there were a "Joey" you know that the matter of the return of the jewellery was all humbug, that it was a put-up job altogether, and that you were trying to get £IOO for nothing. Smith was sent to orison for three months in the second division.