ENGLISH TRIALS

Grey River Argus, 22 February 1938, Page 2

ENGLISH TRIALS

ESPIONAGE PLOT. PLEA OF NOT GUILTY. LONDON, February 18. The prosecution asked for a committal of all four of the accused in the official secrets case in whicl\ charges were made that blue prints were obtained which were likely to be useful to an enemy. The Magistrate agreed to the request. The prisoners pleaded not guilty, and reserved their defence. Counsel, in applying for bail, said the dramatic and sensational way the case was conducted made it seem more serious than it was. The charges were not really half as grave as was at first alleged. On the contrary, they were comparatively minor offences. The police opposed bail in the cases of Glading and Williams, but Whomack and Munday were allowed bail in sureties of £2OO. SOCIETY CRIMINALS. JEWEL ROBBERY’S SEQUEL. LONDON, February 18. A sensational attack on a jeweller which occurred on December 21, and after which four well-known Mayfair society residents were arrested, had its sequel when the prisoners were sentenced to-day. On December 22, it was reported that diamond and platinum rings valued at £16,000 were stolen from a jewellers’ representative who had been induced by a daring gang of thieves to bring them to a hotel in the West End.

The representative arrived with ten rings, and was displaying them when suddenly he was attacked and beaten into an unconscious condition. The men then pocketed nine of the rings, strolled quietly out of the hotel, and stepped into a waiting car. A reward of £l5OO was offered for information leading to the apprehension of the thieves. Robert Harley, twenty-six years of age, a journalist, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with hard labour and twenty strokes of the cat-o’-nine-tails for conspiring to steal, for robbery with violence, and for receiving rings valued at £13,000. David Wilmer, twenty-four years of age, a son of Brigadier Eric Wilmer, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour and fifteen strokes of the “cat." Peter Jenkins, twenty-three years of age, of independent means, was sentenced .to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour for conspiring to steal and robbery with violence. John Lonsdale, twenty-four years of age, an agent, was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment with hard labour for conspiring to steal.