MORE THAN £200 STOLEN

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21465, 6 May 1935, Page 12

MORE THAN £2OO STOLEN

GELIGNITE USED TO FORCE SAFE

L1NWOOI) BAKERY ENTERED

More than £2OO in cash was stolen from the premises of Messrs Stacey and Hawker, Ltd., at the corner of Essex and Clothier streets, Linwood, early yesterday morning. The money was taken from the strongroom on the premises, gelignite being used to break open the door. The alarm was given by the caretaker, who heard suspicious noises on the premises, but by the time the police arrived the thieves — the circumstances point to the presence of more than one man—had gone, apparently only a i'ew minutes before, as the office was still full of smoke. The theft was apparently carried out by men who had laid their plans carefully and had gained a knowledge of the office and factory routine of the bakery. Saturday night is the only one in the week on which -the caretaker is alone. On 'every other night there is a team of employees on the premises making dough for the day's baking, and it would have been a foolhardy enterprise to enter the office, for the thieves could not have worked un-1 noticed. And on a Saturday night | there is ordinarily much more money in the strongroom than there is on any other evening,, because of the closing of the banks at 11.30 a.m.

Heavy Door of Strongroom Entrance was gained from the front, of the premises, the two doors leading to the office being forced. For their attack on the substantial door of the strongroom, weighing about half a ton, the thieves made use of implements they found in the office. A fire-bar taken from a grate in the office and a hammer used about the premises were employed, and the interior of a loaf was pulled out and used as packing for the gelignite. The caretaker, who makes a periodic inspection of the premises, on his lust round before the safe was blown open, saw nothing to arouse his suspicions, but about 2 a.m. he heard noises coming from the office. He immediately telephoned from his home, which is about 50 yards from the office, to Mr F. 11. Hawker, a principal of the firm, and the latter instructed him to communicate immediately with the police. This was done, and two policemen were dispatched. They arrived within a short time of the call being made.

It was obvious when they arrived that the intruders had been working on the premises when the call was made by the caretaker, for smoke was still swirling about the office. There was, however, no sign of the thieves, nor was their attention drawn to any poison in the vicinity. "Hand of a Professional" There were no indications that the theft had been committed by persons inexperienced in the use of gelignite, for, according to Mr Hawker, the lock had been blown off effectively and neatly. The job he said, showed the hand of a professional. No damage was caused to any other part of the office by the explosion. Persons living in the neighbourhood who were questioned by the police about circumstances which might have a connexion with the theft. stated that they heard a motor-car being driven away about the time the offence was committed; but they could not give any definite indication that the times of the driving away of the car and of the theft were about the same. Nor was the fact of a car leaving the neighbourhood about that time of itself enough to rouse suspicion, for near the premises of the bakery firm is the Essex Maternity hospital, and it is not unusual for cars to draw up before the hospital and leave there at all hours of the night and early morning. In addition to notes and silver a number of cheques were taken, but at present it is not. known how much the cheques represented. On no other occasion has there been any attempt to break into the premises.