Receiving of antiques conviction

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 4

Receiving of antiques conviction

A young man, who described himself as a selfemployed artist, was convicted in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of receiving antique vases, jewellery, and silverware, valued at $1536, which had been stolen from Crossroads Antiques, Colombo Street, on or about May 9. Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M., dismissed an alternative charge of breaking and entering the antique shop. The defendant, Michael Glynn Jones, aged 21 (Mr S. G. Barker) was remanded in custody to August 27 for sentence on the receiving charge. Sergeant W. J. McCormick prosecuted. Evidence was given that most of the vases and other antiques taken from the shop were found by police, displayed in a house at which the defendant was staying, near the antique shop.

James Cyril Lloyd, owner of the antique shop, gave evidence of finding the premises burgled, and silverware, glassware, antique china including ming vases, and other items, worth a total of $1536, stolen.

He notified the police and also went around some dealers’ shops and found two vases in one shop. The police recovered these and other items of property, and only about $3O worth of jewellery had not been recovered.

Mr Lloyd said he had seen the defendant in his shop a few days before the burglary, accompanied by a girl, and he knew he lived in a house nearby.

Detective-constable B. W. Cox said he found a number of antique vases and other items on shelves in the house in which the defendant was staying. The defendant admitted to him that the vases were “hot,” and said a mate had given them to him.

The witness said other items, including silverware wrapped in City Council rjf)bish bags, were found in the defendant’s girl-friend’s car.

Questioned at the police station the defendant nad said his mate had brought the property to the house for him to look after, said De-tective-constable Cox. His mate had told him he could keep the vases if he looked after the silver.

His girl-friend had sold some of the VLSes to secondhand dealers.

The defendant, in evidence yesterday said a friend had

given him the antiques to look after while the friend went to Auckland. The defendant was told they were not “hot” and offered to buy the vases, which his friend accepted as he needed the money. The defendant paid $BO. There were about 15 vases and he displayed them around the house. He said he regarded them as an investment of a lifetime and he had plans to se*l some to recoup the $BO, and keep the remaining vases for ornaments.

He said he did not know anything about the silver, ware placed in his girlfriend's car.

The Magistrate said the explanations the defendant gave on the spot when questioned about the stolen prop* erty were much stronger than those he had given in Court. He said he rejected the defendant’s subsequent explanations, and found the receiving charge proved “without any difficulty whatsoever."