THEFT OF MONEY

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 17, 21 January 1936, Page 14

THEFT OF MONEY

HIDDEN IN OLD BOOT

A joking remark that his dog was supposed to have found a sum of money in an old boot was instrumental in leading to the conviction on a charge of theft of Charles Humphreys, a steward, aged 55, in the Magistrate's Court before Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., yesterday. Detective-Sergeant L. Revell stated that Humphreys had been rooming with John Lightfoot, who had placed £3 in the toe of an old boot for safety on December 13. When he had looked again on December 20, he had found the money was gone. John Lightfoot testified that Humphreys and he had occupied the same room since August 26 of last year. On December 13 he had received £4, and had placed £3 in the toe of a boot and locked it in a suitcase. When he had looked again on December 20 it was gone. Under cross-examination from Mr. P. Verschaffelt, who conducted the defence, the witness showed uncertainty as to the dates mentioned. Mrs. Vera Campbell stated that she had met the accused, whom she had known for about a year, in Cuba Street about December'lß, and that he had then had some money. He had said that his dog had found a sum of money in an old shoe. She could not say how much he had. David Stanley Campbell, her husband, corroborated this evidence, and stated that at the time of the meeting Humphreys had been in possession, of £3 in notes. ' Humphreys stated that the money he had shown the Campbells bad been received by him in payment for relief work. He had made a joking reference to Lightfoot's known habit of hiding his money in odd corners. Under cross-examination he said that he had only been in the room a month or six weeks. He had drawn £2 19s as relief w«ges some two days previously to seeing the Campbells, and had paid out sums of £1 and 15s, the second of which was for the purchase of presents for the two Campbell children. "This story is entirely inconsistent with that of the other witnesses," said Mr. Mosley. He imposed a fine of £1, and ordered the stolen money to be repaid in sums of 5s per week, in default of which he sentenced the accused to 21 days' imprisonment with hard labour.