THIEF FIGHTS POLICE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 23

THIEF FIGHTS POLICE

Pistol and Pepper Attack Thrilling incidents which occurred when Nottingham police officers tried to arrest a man who had been cornered iu a jeweller’s shop were described to Mr. Justice Finlay at Nottingham Assizes. 1

Before the court was Douglas Longdou, aged 22, on two charges of shopbreaking and others of making use of a firearm and throwing pepper to resist apprehension. Mr. A. J. Flint, M.P., who prosecuted, stated that in the early morning a bicycle was noticed outside the shop of Messrs. Stonefield in Parliament Street, and through a window a constable saw Longdon put. a bangle in liis pocket. The officer gave the alarm and police quickly surrounded the premises. Police-Constable Russell climbed over a wall into a yard, and, on pushing open a door, was met by the flame of a revolver shot. Longdon was the assailant, and the constable tackled him and got possession of the pistol. Then Longdon threw a packet of pepper into the officer’s face, temporarily blinding him. Cries for help brought other constables on the scene, and Longdon’s arrest was effected. Seven cartridges were found on the captured man, aud a test showed that, tired from the pistol, the bullets would penetrate a plank threeqvarters of an inch thick.

Part of the barrel had been sawn from the pistol, which, in consequence, fired high and to the left. This, suggested counsel, might account for Police-Constable Russell not being hit. A piece of lead piping was found in the shop, and it was similar to an instrument left in a wine and spirits shop by a person who had broken in a week before. Longdon admitted this offence.

Mr. Nigel Robinson, who defended, mentioned that Longdon was married, and had hitherto borne an excellent character. He had been described as one of the best Boy Scouts who ever served in that movement. Counsel urged that the man was not- a desperado. but had some mental defect. The judge passed sentence of 18 months in the second division, telling Longdon that if the shot had hit the constable it might have killed him and the charge would have been murder.