ENTERED GUESTS’ ROOMS

Evening Star, Issue 25618, 19 October 1945, Page 6

ENTERED GUESTS’ ROOMS

THEFTS FROM HOTELS SIX MONTHS’ GAOL FOR LABOURER The description of a thief as an “ hotel barber,” a term of Australian origin, was applied by Detective-ser-geant H. Le Sueur in the Police Court to-day to Francis James Hobbs, aged 37, a labourer, who pleaded guilty to thefts from the guest rooms of various city hotels during the absence at meals of the occupants. Hobbs removed in this way goods of a total value of £65 14s 6d. He was sentenced by Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., to six months’ imprisonment. Detective-sergeant Le Sueur said that Hobbs hadlbeen a barman employed at Mount Cook up to October 3, and had then proceeded to Dunedin. Between October 9 and October 11 he had taken from rooms in the City, Criterion, European, and Grand Hotels two necklaces, two overcoats, three watches, and a pair or earrings, the owners of the articles being Yvonne Anslow Pratley, Gloria Margaret Nehoff, Elizabeth Ivy Greenland, Stanley Warneford Clarke, Albert George Jones, Gladys Blanche Gray, and Algernon Hamer. When arrested by Detective-sergeant McD. Brown, added Mr Le Sueur, Hobbs had some of the stolen goods in his possession, including one of the overcoats Several of the articles had been sold to second-hand dealers. The thefts, which had mogtly been committed while the guests were in hotel dining rooms, were very difficult to^ detect. The accused had been before the court for theft on 10 occasions since 1942. In a written statement to the magistrate appealing for clemency, Hobbs attributed his lapse into crime to matrimonial trouble and the cumulative effects of drinking and worry.’ The magistrate was informed by the probation officer (Mr.E. F. Mosley) that this was not a case in which he could recommend probation. The thefts were described by Mr Bundle, when sentencing Hobbs to six months’ imprisonment on one charge, as particularly mean and. despicable offences. ‘The accused was convicted on the other five charges, and an order was made for the return of the stolen goods to the owners.