SOLD IT BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 199, 24 August 1939, Page 12

SOLD IT BACK.

MAN STEALS SUIT. "MUST HAVE BEEN DRUNK." ELDERLY BRICKLAYER GAOLED. The cxcuse put forward by an elderly man charged with theft in the Police Court to-day was that he must have been drunk to steal a suit from the front of a shop, then walk into the same shop and sell it to the proprietor. The man who did this was William Joseph James Miles (67), a bricklayer, who pleaded guilty to three charges of theft, involving suits worth 10/ and £2.5/, and seven men's vests valued at 18/4, on August 3, 4 and 9.

"I don't really remember what happened, as I had been drinking heavily," lie tol<l Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., in pleading guilty. "Detective Miller told me that 1 took one suit from a shop doorway and sold it to the man in the shop. You had better ask Detective Miller what I did—he knows better than I what I did." (Laughter.)

Detective-Sergeant McHugh said Miles came to Auckland six weeks ago and since then had been drinking heavily about hotels in the citv.

"He sold the articles he stole on the throe different dates, and it W quite true what he says about selling one suit," said Mr. McHugh. "He stole a suit marked at 10/ the front of a shop, then took it inside and sold it for 3/6. He must have been drunk to do that—"

"Or else he had a sense of humour." remarked the magistrate.

Mr. McHugh thought that perhaps Miles was worthy of another chance. He said he could leave town and get a job. "We would be pleased to see him go,'' said the detective-sergeant.

On one charge Miles was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment. On another he was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within six months, and he was convicted and discharged on the third.