TWO WOMEN LOSE £12,000

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1936, Page 10

TWO WOMEN LOSE £12,000

PENNILESS A.>D HOME SOLD "LONDON, May 1. An allegation that Cuthbert Raymond Newton had .“financially ruined two elderly women of gentle-, birth who bore names honoured in the ■\vhole county of Devon” was made at Newton Abbott police-court yesterday. 7 The accusation was made by Mr. F. Lee Barber, of Torquay, prosecuting in 36 cases in which Newton was alleging fraudulent conversion apd one false pretences. Tlie total sum concerned was £12,000. Newton, who formerly lived in Higher Warberry-rqad, Torquay, was stated-to have obtained the money in sums varying from £lO to £1,200 from ♦he Misses Henrietta Sophie and Evelyn Marie Wrey, of Kingskerswell, near Newton Abbot, for investment.

•Mr. Barber, of Torquay, said the charges disclosed frauds of the grossest aiid most heartless description. The fortune, of the Misses Wrey had been"lost; their house sold, their jewellery pawned; and their furniture was that day on view for. sale. They were dependent upon friends who, he . understood, had made arrangements for them to enter a home for clergymen’s daughters. Mr.. Barber added that in April, 1927, Newton was employed by an electric cleaner company as a canvasser, and in that capacity had met the Misses Wrey. They became on terms of the .closest friendship; trusted him implicitly; thought he was their friend and, incredible though it might appear, continued to think so almost lip to that day. Newton mentioned shares and said' he could do much better with their money than they were doing at the time. The Misses Wrey were Victorian and knew nothing of business, the Stock Exchange, or betting, and they continued to give large sums of money to Newton for investment. He would -show that 1, Newton had. done nothing in the shape of.Mnvestment for the women he was robbing. The crisis came only two or three mbntlis 1 ago,.’ when. the police were called in. They found the sheriff’s officer in possession of the. house with a writ involving £7O; there was no food, and the Misses Wrey told the police that they had been subsisting on no meat at all for two or three months. They had been making a sort of stew with a few pence worth of bones and vegetables. Newton liad told' them from time to time that their money was all right, and one day promised that he would take them. £5O the day following. So far from taking £5O, Newton disappeared, leaving the Misses Wrey penniless. Hb was arrested at Eastbourne, where he was living with a woman in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

SAID TO HAVE HAD CHAUFFEUR Mr. Barber said that while the Misses Wrey were being robbed, Newton had, from living in a poor part of Torquay, transferred to a villa at a rent of £ll5 a year, and later still transferred to ,the best residential locality in that towm He had a car and at one time he (Mr. Barber) believed, a chauffeur. In endeavouring to explain the position, Newton had had the effrontery to say that a great proportion of the money handed over were gifts, to him because , he lost his employment; and for services rendered in the garden. He went further and said that they asked him to go to greyhound racing tracks and

racecourses to bet in his name. The Misses Wrey would say, however, that they knew nothing of betting,

and had never made a bet in their 'lives. At one time and another Newton repaid to the Misses Wrey sums totalling £358 and £152, which he described as repayment of dividends of money invested. That, Mr. Barber contended, was merely to allay suspicion. Miss Henrietta Wrey, in evidence, said that the total value of the cheques ayd cash given by her to Newton for investment was £6,513. She sold all her securities, and with her sister had raised a mortgage of £1,350 on their house. The repayments made to her by Newton from time to time made her think the money had been well invested, and she was satisfied. She also stated that she had had to raise a loan of £325 on her jewellery, which she had been unable to redeem. Merrick Lloyd Miller, clerk employed by James Flower and Sons, said that Newton was introduced to his firm in 1932 for Stock Exchange purposes. He gave details of transactions carried out with Newton and said that the account was closed after 10 months, during whijch Newton made a profit of £44/4/9. Mr. Lee Barber: Is it fair to say that these transactions merely repre-1 sent gambling on the Stock Exchange?—They do really. Miss Evelyn Wrey, in evidence said that she had never made a bet in

her life, and there was no truth in the suggestion that she gave Newton any money for betting. The total amount she had paid over to him for investment was £5,095. Early this year she and her sister were in debt, and were being worried by tradespeople. On March 16 the 7 sheriff’s officer entered the house in respect of a debt of £72. She went to Capt. Newton, at his house at Torquay, and told him the circumstances, to which he replied that the next day he would bring them £5O. Mr. Lee Barber (prosecuting): Did he or the £5O materialise? —No. Have you seen him from that date until yesterday?—No. Miss Henrietta Wrey, recalled, said

that from time to time she and her sister had made cash payments to Newton for his services in connection with the garden. Police-sergeant W. E. Martin, of Newton Abbot, stated that on March 18 he visited the Misses Wrey at their home and Jou.nd them in a most distressed condition. “They were practically without fuel, and were compelled to wear their overcoats indoors. They had insufficient money with which to obtain food,” he added, “and while I was there two local tradesmen called to demand payment of their accounts.”

The sergeant- said that he. subsequently saw Newton, and warned him of the allegations. Newton told him that he did not now hold any script share cert ideates or any investments for the two women, and that they had been paying him £8 or £lO a month for his services in the market garden, business. Newton, he said, added that a sum of £lOO in cash -was given to him in February, 1929, to back greyhounds in London, but he lost the money and informed the Misses Wrey or the result. Two sums of £505 and £4OO were given to him by the women as they knew he had no money of his own. • They also gave him a car for his business as a canvasser and to take them for rides. Further amounts were given him to replenish

his hanking account and for investment at his discretion. Newton, who pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence, was committed to Devon Assizes.