HOSPITALS VICTIMISED

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1934, Page 2

HOSPITALS VICTIMISED

PRISON FOR MALINGERER. LONDON. October 23. Said to have duped nearly every hospital in London hy posing as the victim of an accident, and thus obtaining food and accommodation, Robert Wooding was sentenced to three months’ hard labour at Winsford (Cheshire) to-day. Police Superintendent Kingman said he had never come across a. greater imposter. For years he had traded on the charity of people and hospitals. He was found lying in the gutter* at midnight, moaning, “Someone come to me,” and apparently in great pain. A constable fetched a doctor. Wooding’s right arm was in splints and bandages, but was found to' be uninjured. His chest was heavily bandaged, as though for broken ribs, but there was no sign of injury. His right leg also was bandaged from knee to ankle, but the only injury was a small scratch, apparently done deliberately. The man told the constable that he had been “dumped” into the gutter from a motor-car. Supt. Kingman said Wooding had been in prison many times for this offence, and had duped London hospitals so often that they now refused to admit him. In the seven days before this offence he had been in eight hospitals.