A CRICKET OUTRAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 20, 24 July 1934, Page 7

A CRICKET OUTRAGE

CAR DRIVEN OVER PITCH

An extraordinary story 'was' told ,t9 Windsor magistrates when' William. Dickson Winterbottom, 23, who" gave as his address an . Ascot, hotel; was fined £20 for doing malicious damage,to a cricket, pitch and playing field belonging to the Imperial Service College, Windsor, and,.£,s for assaulting.a master at the college, says the "Daily Telegraph." In the first case Winterbottom was ordered to pay £10 for the damage donej and in the second 16s costs. Chief Constable Carter told the Court that oa May 8 .while a cricket match was'in progress, Winterbottom drove a large saloon car on* to the field and went past the pavilion at & great speed. At the bottom .of the field the driver skidded the car, turned at right angles, and drove across the field and on to,the cricket-pitch, scattering, the players and knocking down the stumps at one end. Turning the car, Winterbottom. again, drove over thepitch andvknocked,down, the stumps at the other end. Considerable damage was done to the playing-field. Mr. Thomas Usher, 'a master, tried to stop the car, but Winterbottom accelerated and drove past him. As he did stf Mr. Usher • said, "What on earth are you doing?" and it was alleged, said the chief constable, that Winterbottbni leaned out of the window and shouted, "Go to hell." The car wasthen driven straight at Mr. .Usher, who had to-jump to get clear. ' - The defendant was an old boy of ..the college. He tried to drive > out ■of the field, but the gate was shut, and he was detained until the arrival of the police. When arrested he said, "I simply drove on to the ground, as I am entitled' to, and the boys threw, balls and stumps at1 my car.." • > • ' There were two previous convictions" against the defendant, one at- Windsor in 1932 for doing malicious damage. ' Mr. Watkins, solicitor, defending, said that Winterbottom could not account for what he did. For some inexplicable reason, while in Windsor, he .suddenly decided to drive into the ground, ,an<i he alleged that a < cricket, ball wat thrown at his car, which infuriated.him. The Chief Constable said that it'was denied that any balls or stumps, were thrown until he had wrecked the pitch.* When defendant: asked .fort timeHin which to pay the fines the clerk pointed out that he had a passport. -Defendant said that he ■would pay during the day, and was ordered to be detained until the moAgy arrived. , . -_" The chairman said that, the alternative to payment would be three months' imprisonment. - _*;. (

;OwingJ*> ; there not being,a quorum the annual meeting of the \Vqllingtda head centre of the %oj:al Life-saving Society, which was to have been held last night, was postponed. '