DANCER’S DOWNFALL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20141, 10 January 1940, Page 9

DANCER’S DOWNFALL

THEFTS OF JEWELLERY SELF-STYLED “LADY” LIVED BY HER WITS Described by the London police as “an associate of the Mayfair crowd,” Ethel Rylands, a 27-year-old dancer, of Carlton Court, Hertford street, Mayfair, was remanded for sentence at Bow Street. She had pleaded guilty to stealing a £'ss ring from Holmes . (’Jewellers), Limited, of Old Bond Street; a £4O brooch from Arthur Holford, Limited, of Piccadilly; and a £46 watch from Asprey and Company, Limited, of New Bond Street. Rylands also asked for three other cases—one concerning a fur coat theft from a West End Club —to be taken into consideration. She became an adventuress in Calcutta at a very early age, Detective Denton told the magistrate. Until 1933 she was a dancer with a theatrical party in India which was eventually broken up by the police. She then travelled to England and had since lived more or less by her wits “An Ardent Gambler” She was an ardent gambler and would steal anything to get money. Her gambling took the form of card playing in -Mayfair clubs. She was released from prison on July 10 after serving a sentence of 12 months for passing worthless cheques. Since then she had associated with a man who said he had spent £ISOO on her. In a written statement to the magistrate, Rylands said that after she arrived in England she fell in with the wrong people. She met a man who was an undischarged bankrupt, and to shield him she passed “ducTcheques and took the blame. She afterwards met another man who was very good to her. “I gambled and lost money and could not ask him for more,” the statement concluded. In each of the cases before the court it was said that the property was missed after Rylands had called to inspect some jewellery for the purpose, as she said, of making a present. Mr. Eric Dodds, prosecuting for i Aspreys, said that Rylands gave the name of Lady Lindsay, of Arlington House.