TWO CHARGES DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25679, 16 December 1948, Page 3

TWO CHARGES DISMISSED

alleged offensive BEHAVIOUR MAGISTRATE’S REMARKS ON “ FACTIONS IN OXFORD ” M The police constables have a very difficult job to do, and not every policeman ao his full duty. Not every police constable is perfect. He has a difficult job and he is not always on the right 2® e ev ery member of the communA y - It is quite clear that after listening in r»°# r evide nce there are two factions “ and you, among others, look z? t .“ie constable—rightly or wrongly—disapproving eye. I am going to these two charges against you with ri ®J‘ av e doubt in my mind, but the evisuch that I have to give you the Jc® of the doubt,” said Mr Rex C. at d etny > S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court ch.ra angiora yesterday, dismissing two fnrJ ges of usin g obscene language in Ox- ™ on October 8, and behaving in an Dm.u!i ve ma nner. against Noel McLaren, a X armer - of Oxford. whn v K - Moloney appeared for McLaren. Sm-n. varied not guilty to both charges. Police atlt L’ T ‘ Moore prosecuted for the fri^ er f eant Moore said that on the evenu* °f October 8. Constable W. J. Theyers thnrt? al e - d at the Harewood Arms Hotel fenrur* ter 6 P-m. At that time the deJguant was in the bar, but he left soon y ar J and had stopped his car about 300 He n a , Way from the Commercial Hotel. Cone£aT> ked his car and waited for the j e - At the time he seemed very EL iatea and excited and was throwing tarivl?l around - When Constable Theyers ant??, he began to abuse him. Defendiairi- a „ T , rU£ hed out on to the road and vob 0 why don’t you do your job. Can’t 1$ what is going on down there?” alleged that he was victimising Arms Hotel and was acmoney7 from the proprietor of the 0* mercial Hotel. As the constable rode lanJ,. * as sta ted that McLaren had used cKffiP a s laid out in the charge. Yk*u*stioned by Mr Moloney, Constable yers admitted that no one was within

hearing when the obscene language was US Mr Moloney: You will admit that in Oxford there is a certain amount of feeling between the two hotels. Constable Theyers: Yes. There is a section Of the community who feel in that •way. McLaren Is one of them. McLaren had denied hayii j used the language described, and said the position was exactly the reverse when he had interviewed him, said Sergeant Moore. Defendant had alleged that the constable had used the language to him. When he had asked McLaren about the allegation he had made that the constable had been receiving money from the hotel, he replied that that was only a joke. Defendant had refused to include in his statement any reference to the constable’s use of obscene language until he had seen a solicitor. McLaren did not approach him again, said Sergeant Moore. McLaren said he “felt very strongly about the hotel question,” and he wished to ask the constable “why he victimised the one hotel.” He asked the constable what he was going to do aoout the two hotels. The constable told him it was no business of his, and then used the obscene language. He had not been maving his arms about in an excited manner. He had been wavng to a friend. Mr Moloney submitted that there was no evidence to show that McLaren had used obscene language, and asked that the charges be dismissed.