POLICEMEN TAKE BRIBES

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 May 1927, Page 2

POLICEMEN TAKE BRIBES

> — — CONVICTION AT RE-TRIAL. The retrial of two constables of the London Metropolitan Police Force accused of receiving bribes at Good wood Races on July 28, 1926, ended at Lewes - Assizes in conviction, and the officers, and the men who bribed them, were each sentenced to six months’ hard labour. Edwin Bottom, 61, labourer, was charged with making a corrupt gift of silver coins to Police Constables Arthur Isadore Strauss Chessshire, 42, and Joseph Lucas, 36, and Chesshire and Lucas were indicted for receiving the money. The case had occupied two days, and was remarkable because of the great conflict of evidence between a group of officers of the West Sussex Constabulary and several uniformed men of the Metropolitan Police. The three defendants had strenuously denied that any coins changed hands between them, but a sergeant and a constable of the West Sussex Constabulary were confident that from a distance of six yards they saw the gifts made. In summing up Mr. Justice Horridge said that Mr. St. John Hutchinson, who defended the two constables, had emphasised the extreme danger of finding the men guilty because of the positions they occupied. “It would be a bad day for English justice,” said the judge, “when .a jury were afraid to keep their oaths and decide upon the evidence. You have nothing to do with the result of your verdict.” It had further been suggested, he continued, that the men should not be convicted because they were all of such good character. Character was asset to everybody, but in crime there had always to be a “first time.” The only bearing character had upon the case was that in the event of their being a serious doubt the jury were entitled to say that the men were of such good character that they were not likely to commit the offence. His lordship devoted some time to explaining the relevance of the piece of paper found on Bottom on which, it was alleged, were items showing that payments had at some time been made to the police. That paper, said the judge, even if the jury thought that it showed Bottom was in the habit of bribing the police, was no evidence against the constables, and no evid- ,

once that at Goodwood Races he made the gifts of coins. But it might he evidence against. Bottom. The only possible way that paper ought to be taken into consideration was that it might show that if a, man bribed the police before he would do it again. There was only one course open to the jury—to find a verdict for or against all three, for all the defendants were involved. The jury found all three prisoners guilty. . Bottom, in reply to the judge, admitted that he had been fined £l5 and costs for gaming in another name, that he had received one month’s imprisonment for obtaining money by false pretences, and that he /was summarily convicted on three other occasions for Addressing prisoners, who took the sentence without showing much emotion, his lordship said that he entirely concurred in the verdict. “Nobody,” he said, “could have heard Sergeant Jones give his evidence without seeing that he was speaking the truth, and speaking the truth under very difficult circumstances for an officer doing his duty, and charging two other constables with an offence.” Chesshire and Lucas had violated their posts as servants under the Government. “It is a shocking crime,” said his lordship, “and everybody ought to be very much indebted to Jones for the manly way in which he has brought you to justice. It is a very bad thing for the English police force if there are other members of this force, as I hope there are not, who take bribes. Let this case be a lesson to others, and let us hope it will do something to purify the police force if this thing which we have been investigating takes place in other instances.” His lordship added that he would have given the police officers a heavier sentence than Bottom, because the offence was far worse in their position, but Bottom had been previously convicted, and therefore he would put them all in the same position and sentence them'to imprisonment with hard labour for six calendar months.