WIFE WINS CASE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 28, 13 November 1934, Page 8

WIFE WINS CASE.

RACE FOR A CHILD. HUSBAND THWARTED. » As the .result of a hustling trip to Cambridge by train and then a short but thrilling dash in a taxicab, a Hackney woman lately regained possession of her ,son, aged 7J- years. At North London Police Court the previous day a woman summoned her husband, a hotel chef, on the ground that he had neglected to maintain her. She asked for orders giving her . the custody of their two children which the magistrate, Mr Basil Watson, K.C., granted. A maintenance order was also made.

One of the children, a boy, had been j placed by the father in the care of a foster-mother at Cambridge, and while the father Avas detained in court for the completion of formalities in connection with the orders, the mother, who had been supplied by the probation officer, Miss HamSton Hunter, with money for her fare and expenses, dashed oft'" to catch the next train to Cambridge. At the last moment, however, the husband got away from court and in the nick of time, caught the same train as that taken by his' wife. In the meantime Cambridge police had been and officers were in (readiness 'to assist the mother in getting back her child. At the station the husband took a taxicab while the wife went to the police statipn. She arrived at the house Where the child had been, to find that he had already been removed. Accompanied by two officers in a taxicab the wife set" off in pursuit. Her cab was following behind another when a little boy looked out of the back window ofthe leading cab and in excited tones called, "Mummy, mummy!" The leading cab drew up at a motorcoach station, where a long-distance coach was due to leave but the chase was oyer. The wife won the race.