WOMAN'S NUDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 271, 15 November 1937, Page 10

WOMAN'S NUDGE.

"CLEVER COPPER."

DETECTIVES SMART WORK.

f'CTHEQTJE-DIIOPPERS'' GAOLED.

Julie West, striding along sunlit Long Acre, London, with two friends recently, saw Detective John Cheeterman, of Bow Street. She nudged her companions— one a ticket-of-leav© man, the other a "cheque-dropper," like Julie—and said, "That'* a clever copper. Watch out for him."

None of the three was known to Detective Chesterman. But he saw that nudge. And because he saw it and acted on a hunch, Julie West was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment at the Old Bailey. She was found guilty of uttering—otherwke "dropping"—a forged cheque.

Her two friends, Thompson and Harris, were also sent to prison—Thompson to serve hie uncompleted five years' sentence for forgery. Harris to serve eighteen months for cheque "dropping." These three would not disagree that good detective work and the luck element always beat the criminal in the end.

Detective Chesterman had his "hunch" when he saw Julie nudge. As a good detective, he shadowed the three. Coincidence. Then lock stepped in; they were living in a flat in Mercer Street, off Long Acre. And in that flat Chesterman himself had lived. He had decorated the walls, painted a dresser there.

For three weeks he kept an eye on Julie West, Thompson and Harris. He had the irritating feeling that they were crooks, but he could not find out what line of business they were in. TTien "police information" showed him that Thompson was a ticket-of-leave man and had not made hie monthly report to the police. He went to Mercer Street and saw Thompson through the window. By the time he had entered the flat Thompson had vanished. Julie and Harris disclaimed knowledge of him. Detective Chesterman went into the kitchen, and saw his old dresser still bright with the red paint he had put on. "Not a bad job of work I did on that," he said to Julie. And then, suddenly, he whipped back the curtain beneath the dresser. Thompson was hiding there among the old boots and shoes. Woman Identified. At that time there wae no charge against Julie West or Harris, but a little more watching, a consultation with Detective-Inspector Greenaere, and soon there was another visit to the Mercer Street flat.

Julie, fat, thirty-seven years old, given to wearing perky hats at a jaunty angle, was put up for identification and picked out as the woman who tried to "drop" a forged cheque at an Aldwych bank. And for Harris it was a similar story. Detective Chesterman was last year described as "the man with a perfect police brain" by a superior officer. He was instrumental in catching some car thieves and received £8 from the police reward fund.