He Was Innocent— But The Law Penalised Him

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

He Was Innocent— But The Law Penalised Him

GOING home after spending the evening with friends at Wim- ( bledon, William Grant, of Morden, Surrey, was arrested , i c i: u__—

on a charge of stealing two boxes of fruit from a lorry. Boforo ho cleared himself of the chnrgo Grant spent nearly a week in Brixton Gaol, Inst his job, and had to cull Are witnesses to prove that it was impossible for him to have been at Central Road, Morden, when the theft was committed.

1 "All that was bad enough," Grant 1 said last night, "but after I had proved i my innocence I think it was unjust for , the magistrates to say they would give me 'the benefit of the doubt.' "This is what happened. I *u just getting off a bus outride my father's t house, when a policeman caught hold of me, and said: 'This is one of them.'

"I did not know what he meant, but I was taken to Mitcham police station and charged. When I appeared before the Wimbledon magistrates I learned that I was supposed to be a man who had broken away from the police when the tlieft was committed. I was remanded in custody from the Monday until the Friday. Witnesses Notwithstanding "I wm due to gtart on a new job after several weeks' unemployment when I was remanded in custody, but, of course, I lost that. At the second hearing I was given bail, and then consulted a aolicitor. "Though I was able to bring five witnesses, including a bu» conductor, to

! say that I could not possibly have been i in Ontral Road at the tim« of th« i theft, I was refused my cost*. ' "I hare another job, on which I start ' on Moi.Jay, but I don't know what my 1 costs in connection with the case are . likely to be. "Whether I can appeal or not I do not know. I am leaving it in the hands of my solicitor. What I do think is that when I produced overwhelming evidence j of my innocence I should not be ext pected to pay the costs of proving it, , "It'« not pleasant to have to spend 1 nearly a week at Brixton, but I had tc ' put up with that. Now I think I should be recompensed and griven a bettei 3 answer than "the benefit of the 3 doubt.'"