RACEGOERS' LOSS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22318, 1 May 1947, Page 6

RACEGOERS' LOSS

MEN IN_COURT ALLEGED PICKPOCKETS SCHOOLBOYS CALL POLICE (P A.) ; NELSON, May 1. A college boy’s observations of two men who are alleged to have picked the. pockets of spectators at the Nelson Jockey Club's race meeting at Richmond Park on Saturday, April 19, was the principal evidence in the Magistrate’s Court when James Wilson and Patrick John Mee were charged with stealing £BO from the person of Charles James Ruffe!! at Richmond Park, and with attempting to steal at Richmond Park from the person of a man whose identity was at present unknown. • Detective-Sergeant J. J. Murray conducted the prosecution, and Mr. T, E. Maunsell, S.M., was on the Bench. Elderly Farmer Loses £BO Charles James RufTell, aged 85, farmer, of Wakapuaka, said that on his arrival at the course he took eight £lO notes from a roll and put them in the left inside pocket of his coat with a rubber band round them. After the fourth race the college boy asked him if he had lost any money. He answered "No.” He wondered why the boy had spoken to him. On reaching home after the races he discovered that £BO was missing. A student of Nelson College, Richard J. A. Kerridge, of Richmond, aged 13 years, said he went to the races with Tony and Alastair Clark. After the second race the witness and the Clark brothers left the grandstand to buy pies near the totaiisator. He saw Wilson push another man along in a tight pack of people. Wilson then quickly slipped his hand into the left trouser pocket of the man he was pushing, and then bring his hand out and put it under a coat he was carrying on his right arm. Wilson then walked quickly ahead towards the back of the totaiisator and did the same to another man, withdrawing a banknolc from the pocket at the same time. Witness saw a big man, Mee, pushing Wilson along.’ Mee was right behind Wilson when the latter pat his hand into yet another man’s pocket. Boys Follow Accused The boys then decided to follow the two men and not get pies. Mee walked up in front of a small, old man with a white beard (RufTell, the witness in court). Mee stood jammed in front of RufTell ; so that the latter could not move, starting a conversation. While that was happening Wilson pushed his way round behind RufTell, feeling in and tapping Ruffell’s clothing. Witness saw Wilson put his left hand under Ruflell’s coat, withdraw it, and place it under an overcoat he was carrying. The boys then watched Mee and Wilson move along a line of people, Mee standing behind and sheltering Wilson, who put his hand into people's pockets. The three boys then followed the men into a lavatory, where it appeared that Wilson was pushing a handful of notes into Mde’s right-hand pocket. Witness said the accused gave them rather a nasty look, but they waited outside and when the two men went out and crossed to the open-air bar, they followed. There were men crowded round the. bar, where Wilson pushed into a little gap and picked the pockets of two or three, men, Mee standing beside Wilson as if to hide him. Leaving the bar. Wilson and Mee returned to the back of the totaiisator, where the crowd was still thick, and "did” the pockets of several more men. Spectators’ Pockets Tapped ' During the preliminaries to the third race Vvilson and Mee moved among people crowded on the lawn near the bimeage, the boys watching them from t.ie steps of the grandstand. On one occasion Mee started a conversation vhh a man near the fence while Wilson lapped the man's pockets on the ouls.Le, then put his hand in the man's coat pocket and. hi? trouser pocket. Witness continued his waich on the men during the progress of the race when Wilson put his hand in other pockets. After the race witness and Tony Clark went to find a policeman, but none was about. .They invited another boy to accompany them and they again located Wilson and Mee working along queues behind the totaiisator in the same fashion as before. The other boys watched the men while the witness found a policeman. Later Senior Sergeant Knight and Mr. Allsopp, racecourse inspector, took Mee and Wilson away. Anthony Claik,#and Alastair Clark corroborated Kerridge’s evidence. Thomas William Allsopp, racecourse inspector, Palmerston North, gave evidence of watching the movements of the accused among the crowd before seizing Wilson, who commenced to struggle. Senior Sergeant Knight arrested Mee. The court adjourned until to-day.