JEWEL THIEF’S TRICK

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 83, 6 January 1928, Page 7

JEWEL THIEF’S TRICK

WOMAN SWALLOWS STOLEN RING SENT TO PRISON FOR THREE MONTHS Alice Myra Mann, a dressmaker, aged 31, who arrived in New Zealand in beptember last appeared before Mr. J. 11. Salmon. S.M., in the Magistrates Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to stealing two gold rings, valued at A. 40, the property of Dorothy Oreta Innes, and to stealing a five-stone diamond ring valued at .I'so, the property ot Clark and Morris, jewellers. Detective-Sergeant Holmes said that after Mann arrived in Wellington she Ixiarded at a house on The Terrace. About November 15 a lady who boarded at the same house missed two rings from her bedroom and, despite inquiries made in all quarters, did not recover them. Nothing more came to light until . last Friday afternoon, when accused visited the store of Clark and Morris, and haying asked to see a tray of diamond rings, tried to ‘ put across” a trick often resorted to by jewel thieves. When the assistant was not looking she took a ring valued at .fiat! and substituted for it an inferior one valued at about <£s. After she left the shop the fraud was discovered, and later on one of the shop assistants, in company with a police constable, accosted Mann in the street. She emphatically denied the charge, but was taken to the police station, where she was searched by the matron. However, no trace of the ring was found. Accused, when first spoken to, gave a false address, but afterwards gave the correct one. A search was made, and the. two rings missing since November were found. Swallowed Diamond Ring. Accused then stated that she had swallowed the diamond ring taken from the jeweller’s store. The advice ot medical men was sought, and accused was sent to the Public Hospital, the ring later being recovered. It was stated that accused had .a list of previous convictions in Australia, including a sentence of six months imprisonment for false pretences. Mr. F. Anyon appeared for Mann and stated that although she bad had previous convictions, she was a woman of good standing. She had absolutely no need to steal, and had a considerable bank balance in a New South Wales bank. Mr. Anyon described her action as stupid and foolish, and said that he was of opinion that a tendency towards kleptomania accounted for it. Since accused had bought her ticket to return to Sydney to-day, Mr. Anyon suggested that she might be convicted and ordered to leave New Zealand to-day by the steamer. He further submitted that she had no intention of disposing of the ring, she stole, and that she swallowed it in a panic. Accused’s mental and physical suffering must have mdtie her repent“She has served six months for false pretences,” said the Magistrate, and then she came to New Zealand and stole in November and December. It looks to me as if she is a professional Accused, who remained silent throughout the proceedings, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on . the charge of stealing the two go d rings, and was convicted and ordered to pay medical expenses, £9 Is., in default one month’s imprisonment, on the charge of stealing the diamond ring.