CROYDON GOLD THEFT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 166, 27 April 1935, Page 5

CROYDON GOLD THEFT.

TWO MEN ACQUITTED. (United Preso Association—Copyright). (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, April-26. John O'Brien was acquitted on the charge of thefts of gold from Croydon aerodrome, as he was not properly identified. Mazzadra was acquitted, the Recorder pointing out that there was no evidence of identification. Manson has now sworn that Maz* zarda was not in the taxi, in which he drove three men to London.

Gold to the value, of £20,000, delivered at Croydon Aerodrome on the evening of March 5 for dispatch to the ■Continent, was deposited in the strongroom, but when the strongroom was opened on March 6 the gold had vanished. Three boxes were stolen. The first contained 6000 sovereigns, the second gold bars, and the third American gold dollars. The robbery was stated at the time to be one of the most baffling in tlie history of crime. The boxes,which weighed 2401 b., were locked up at 10.30 p.m. on Tuesday. When the vault was opened at 7.30 a.m. on the Wednesday they had vanished. The outer door was still locked, but the inner steel door was ajar. None of the locks had been forced, and all the keys were accounted for. A wax impression of the key would have been quite useless, as if inaccurate to 1-100,000 part of an inch it would have failed to open the steel door. The "Daily Mail" said tnat Scotland Yard had only the most slender clues to the robbery. It was believed that it was carried out by car bandits, uniformed to resemble Imperial Airways officials.