EIGHT MEN FINED

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30543, 11 September 1964, Page 14

EIGHT MEN FINED

Former Postal Employees

! Fines ranging from £2O to £75 were imposed on eight [former Post Office employees ibv Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Seven appeared for sentence for theft as a servant, and one for receiving. All were admitted to probation for a year.

The accused had pleaded ' guilty to the charges, which ’ arose from thefts from coin containers in public tele- , phones. “These are dismaying of- , fences, dismaying because not ’ only are they thefts but are ; thefts by persons who have been placed on trust by a ' Government department to i collect moneys,” the Magistrate said. “Government offi- ' cers are expected to be persons of good character. “A bad feature of these ’ offences is that they were 1 breaches of trust and were 1 coldly committed with pre- ' meditation over a period by 1 a group of men who knew 1 perfectly well what was being ’ done. The single silent thief is a poor enough specimen, but the member of a gang of thieves is lower still,” said the Magistrate. Some accused were less guilty than others, and some had been led astray, but all had disgraced themselves in a service which had a fine record of responsibility towards the public. It was difficult to assess the proper penalty for charges which normally resulted in imprisonment. Some of the accused were young, and others were older with long service to the department. He had to weigh the needs of the families and other factors, the Magistrate said. Cyril Cosgrove, aged 41 (Mr A. D. Holland), who was charged with the theft of £l6O, was fined £75; Peter Arthur Mcßae Gibson, aged 24 (Mr J. H. Gebbie), was fined £2O for the theft of £4 8s; Sydney Wakefield Hammill, aged 28 (Mr R. S. D. Twyneham), was fined £3O for receiving £lO when he knew it had been stolen; John Henry Hunt, aged 36 (Mr Gebbie), was fined £5O for the theft of £45: Ivan Welby Leeder, [aged 38 (Mr D. H. Springer), jwas fined £6O for the theft of £45; Colin Rowse, aged 23 | (Mr J. A. Bretherton), was I fined £5O for the theft of £l5; Eric Simatus, aged 23 (Mr J. G. Leggat), was fined £25 for the theft of £l2; and Peter Eustace White, aged 23 (Mr G. S. Brockett), was fined £75 for the theft of £95. Hunt fainted when the Magistrate announced his fine, and had to be carried from the court by two constables. A charge against Alexander Ernest Miller, aged 24 (Mr J. H. Dalmer), of stealing £2 5s from the Post Office was adjourned to September 17.