SNEAK THIEF CAUGHT

Evening Post, Issue 12, 14 July 1936, Page 11

SNEAK THIEF CAUGHT

CONSTABLE HIDES IN

CEILING

"Sneak-thieving of this kind is one of the meanest offences which can be committed. Surely young men can leave their clothes in dressing-sheds without fear that they will be gone through," said Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today, when Victor Frederick Weaver, a labourer, aged 22, appeared on two charges of theft. The- accused, for whom Mr. R. Hardie Boys appeared, pleaded guilty to the theft of a wallet containing six theatre tickets and sundry papers, the property of Douglas Jack Ear.le, and of the sum of sixpence belonging to James Frederick Wyber.'

Senior-Sergeant J. Dempsey said that a* a consequence of frequent complaints from sportsmen, footballers in particular, that thefts took place during their absence from the dressingsheds, a watch had been. set. Last Saturday Constable Stevens attended the Emerson Street dressing-room, and hid in the ceiling. Play.ers commenced to arrive at 2.15 p.m. for the game at 2.45. At 3.20 the constable was forced to move from his original hiding-place. He heard someone come in and open the lavatory door, and then heard the rustling of clothing in the dressingshed.

On looking through a knot-hole, he saw the accused take a wallet and open it. The constable was close enough to describe the wallet and its contents. The accused's story was that he had been in the lavatory. The wallet was found by the constable in the pocket of a pair of trousers hanging in the shed. The second charge related to a.theft from an.eighteen-year-old cadet, who recognised a penny in the possession of the accused.

Mr. Boys said the accused wisely pleaded guilty to the theft of the wallet after instruction as to what constituted theft. His explanation was that he went first to the lavatory, and on his way out through the dressing-shed saw the wallet in a coat and took it out. He said he had put it back'before the con-' stable came along, arid- did not know its contents. He was single and lived with his grandparents, his parents being dead. His list of convictions comprised minor offences, and he was released from custody in December, since when he had been unable to obtain work; "There is only one punishment for a man with such a record who. perpetuates thefts of this kind," said the Magistrate. The accused was sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment with hard labour on the first charge, and seven days' imprisonment on the second, the terms to be concurrent.