Man Grabs £l20 From Hotel Office And Escapes

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29952, 13 October 1962, Page 10

Man Grabs £l20 From Hotel Office And Escapes

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, October 12.

In an audacious daylight theft this afternoon a man in a grey raincoat snatched £l2O from the reception desk of the Victoria Hotel, in Victoria street west, Auckland, and escaped pursuit by running through rush-hour crowds in Queen street The money, mainly in £5 notes, was in a drawer under the top of the reception desk.

Mr A. Agnew, licensee of the hotel, said tonight that the man came into the foyer at 5.20 p.m., and asked the receptionist, Miss Betty Reid, aged 50, if she could change a threepence so that he could make a telephone call. When Miss Reid opened the drawer to get three pennies, the thief leaned over the counter, grabbed the bundle of notes and ran out into the street.

Just as the thief was disappearing, Mr George Murray, aged 60. of Grey Lynn, came out of the private bar. “Miss Reid shouted to met ‘George, chase that man, he’s got all the money,-’ Mr Murray said tonight. Mr Murray he was wounded in fighting in Italy and still has a limp set off in hot pursuit. “The bloke was going like a Bondi tram," he said. “He was weaving in and out of the crowd, and I followed him as fast as I could.

“If it hadn't been for my bad heart, I think I might have got him. But he ran across Queen street, and just

as I got there the lights changed. All the traffic came down, and I couldn’t get across. “By the time it had cleared, he had disappeared, and it was hopeless going any further.

“But I’m certain I would know that fellow again anywhere.” Miss Reid was also able to give the police a fairly full description of the thief. She said he was unshaven, apparently in his late forties, of medium build, with a thin face and dark skin. He was wearing a brown hat with a narrow brim, and dark grey trousers.

Detectives immediately began a search of city streets, but were unable to trace the man.

Miss Reid could not recall having seen the thief before Mr Agnew said: “From the way he went about it, he must have known that Miss Reid would have to puU the drawer right out to get the pennies. “We will certainly be changing our system right' away.’’