FOUND NOT GUILTY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22465, 28 July 1938, Page 7

FOUND NOT GUILTY

SALESMAN ACQUITTED ON THEFT CHARGE A verdict of not guilty was returned by a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday when Trevor Vesey Cook, a salesman, aged 27, was charged with the theft of goods valued at £23 16s 3d from the D.1.C., where he was formerly employed. Evidence on the charge had been heard on the previous day. Cook was represented by Mr T. A. Gresson. Mr A. W. Brown prosecuted for the Crown, and his Honour Mr Justice Northcroft presided. Mr Gresson, addressing the jury in Cook’s defence, said that a principal part of the Crown’s case rested on the evidence of two convicted persons, Hugh Lowther and Tom Haszard, but these two men could not be regarded as reliable witnesses. Haszard had lied blatantly in alleging that Cook was guilty of thefts. Cook may have acted weakly in that he thought the best means of getting clear of Haszard’s activities was to take a post with another firm, but he was now the innocent victim of these proceedings and should not be convicted. His Honour, in summing up, said that a considerable part of the Crown’s case depended on the evidence of Haszard and Lowther. By the established rule their evidence, because they were accomplices, was to be regarded with the greatest suspicion. There were other points, his Honour said, on which the Crown’s case rested. The jury brought in its verdict of not guilty after a retirement of an hour and 20 minutes. Cook was then acquitted of the charge.