GIRL’S INFATUATION

Evening Star, Issue 23525, 14 March 1940, Page 7

GIRL’S INFATUATION

CONSPIRACY REGARDING A FUR COAT A twenty-year-old mannequin and cabaret artiste, who, , in ‘ the words of ■ a detective, had been infatuated with a “ Mayfair playboy,” was bound over at London Sessions the., other day on a charge relating to a fur coat'belonging to Mrs Diana Colgrave (Diana Ward,, the actress). The. mannequin was Elizabeth Mary .Saunders, and she was found guilty with Patrick Stewart Greyillo Moran and John Patrick Wakelyn Topham, aged 26, a pilot, of conspiring to defraud a pawnbroker with whom they tried to pawn the coat, which was valued at £320. Topham, who was also found guilty of receiving, was sentenced' to 20 months’ imprisonment. He was found not guilty of breaking, and 'entering Mrs Colgrave’s flat andl .stealing the coat. Moran was sentenced., .to ,10 months’ imprisonment for-conspiracy, but, together with Saunders, . was acquitted on a. charge of ■ receiving. Detective-sergeant Freeman . said that Topham, was sentenced’ to 15 months’ imprisonment at-Derby in 1938 for burglary at - Chapel-Le-Frith, and

was released 'the day before war was declared. He was educated at Rugby and Cambridge University, and was left a large sum of money by his father, but that hadl all been spent. SEEN IN NIGHT CLUBS. “ There is only one thing to say in his favour,” added the detective. “ When he was released from prison he went straight to the Air Ministry, and but for this trouble would have been accepted.” Detective-sergeant Freeman said that he knew Moran as “ a Mayfair playboy,” whom he had seen almost nightly in clubs and hotels in the West End. “He is an associate of wellknown Mayfair men, some of whom are serving long sentences in prison,” he added. “ There is no doubt at all that he is responsible for landing this young woman in the trouble in which she now stands.” Saunders was a single girl, and had been born in Malta. She was at school at Marseilles for five years, and later attended Kensington High School. Her father was a Government official. On leaving school she hadl worked'for various firms os a mannequin and model. Later she appeared in cabaret, and her work took her. to Rio de Janiero and Paris. When the detective saidl: “ She, is infatuated with Moran,” Saunders said: “ I object,” and burst into tears. Mr St. John Hutchinson (for Top-

ham) said that Topham had- had! a) long experience his university squadron, and in 1935 . went to Australia, where He was engaged a* a,big airport.

“ INCLINED TO TAKE RISKS.” Mr Hutchinson , read a testimonial, which the detective agreed! was a good description of Topham. It ran: “Ha has had 1,400 hours of flying; expedience, and is an especially good pilos« although 1 he is inclined to take : risks owing to his youth and extremely bight spirits,”.' Mr R.. W. Cockburn, K.C., the deputy-chairman, binding -Saunders over for two years, ordered’ her to live, where the probation officer directed. Mr Gockburn told Topham that he had seriously considered' sending him to penal servitude. “ One thinks what. you might have dene in life if you had not pursued the criminal course,” he said. ■ “ You seem so satisfied and, pleased with yourself —obviously quite wrongly. When you come out you will choose for yourself whether you lead, am honest, useful life, or whether you go back to’ crime. If you like you can spend practically the rest of your life in prison. It depends on you.”