BURGLAR’S HAULS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20378, 15 October 1940, Page 4

BURGLAR’S HAULS

CHRISTCHURCH HOMES VARIETY OF GOODS MAN FOR SENTENCE ' (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. The breaking and entering of 46 houses in Christchurch suburbs, particularly in Fendalton and Papanui, was admitted by Albert Francis Woodham, aged 40, a carpenter, in the Magistrate’s Court before Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M. Goods were stolen from all but four of the houses. Woodham also pleaded guilty to six other charges of theft. He was committed to the Supreme Court for; sentence. Detective-Sergeant J. McClung, who conducted the prosecution, said that the houses entered had been ransacked and the total value of goods taken was some hundreds of pounds. The goods stolen and displayed in court included sums of money, clocks, cut-glass vases, a standard lamp, a bottle of scent, a camera, tablecloths and other household linen, lampshades, hair brushes, a radio set, carpet runners, an electric torch, a toaster, playing cards, oddments of clothing, a bridge table, cushions, suitcases, a saltbox, builders and carpenters’ tools, a cake of chocolate, a money-box tin containing 31s in pennies, and a prayer-book. In statements read by Detective G. W. Alty and Acting-Detective B. H. Constable, the accused described how he entered the various houses. His selection had been influenced in some cases by finding that there was no light in the house in the evening. Entry was gained to some through sun porches, to others by removing leadlighted glass, panes in doors and through windows, and to others with skeleton keys.