LOOTERS MAY BE HANGED

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1940, Page 5

LOOTERS MAY BE HANGED

POLICE COURT WARNING. LONDON, October 1. Mr. Herbert Metcalfe, the Oldstreet magistrate, yesterday told a man accused of looting: “People found looting are liable to be sent to the Old Bailey and, on conviction, hanged. One of these bright days a person looting either from a dead body or damaged premises will go for trial. Three months or six months is no good at all.” William Henry Hall, 45, an A.R.P. worker, Shadwell-gardens, Shadwell, was discharged under the Probation of Offenders Act on a remanded charge of stealing money from an electric light meter in a damaged house. A plain clothes policeman said that Hall placed a handful of pennies in his pocket and said to the constable, “Come on, chum, fill your pockets. We may as well have this.” Hall stated that what he said was, “It’s nay job to salvage that money.” He denied the policeman’s allegations. The magistrate said to Hall, “You can tell any other A.R.P. workers to keep their hands off property that does not belong to them. I want it to go out as a warning that the next time there is a bad case I will send it for trial.” , For stealing two fowls from a house damaged by bombs Mrs Agnes Pitt, 62, of Ruskin-avenue, Manor Park, E., was at an East End court sentenced to a month’s hard labour. Councillor W. H. Pooley, an A.R.P. worker, said that he saw Pitt enter the house and leave with the fowls. Pitt stated that she was only going to look after the birds as they appeared to be without food. Seven men of the. Royal Norfolk Regiment were charged on remand at Epsom with. stealing property from houses said to have been damaged by aerial bombardment. Major Fitzgerald handed in a letter from the commanding officer of the regiment asking that the men should be handed over to the military to be dealt with by general court-martial. Mr. W. H. Chitty, who defended, objected that the men would not be legally represented. Major Fitzgerald said that they would have a fair trial, and although the officer appointed to represent them might not be a legal man, the Judge Advocate would be. The charges were withdrawn on the understanding that the men were handed ove/ to a military court. Two Canadian soldiers charged with | similar offences were dealt with in the same way.