SENTENCE ON WIDOW.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 26, 30 December 1925, Page 10

SENTENCE ON WIDOW.

PRISON FOR PETTY THEFT. MOTHER OF FIVE CHILDREN. The greatest indignation was aroused in Bedford recently, says the London Daily Express, by a sentence passed on a first offender —a widow of fifty, with five children —by the local bench of five borough magistrates. Although the police can allege no previous offence against the woman, Dagmar Campion, s/he was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment with hai'd labour, without the option of a fine, for two petty thefts of articles valued together at 15s lOd. The charge against Mrs Campion was of stealing from the carrier-baskets of bicycles left unattended in Bedford streets. Sho was alleged to have taken a pound of pears, worth fourpence, and a jersey, valued at 15s 6d. Mrs Campion pleaded guilty, and expressed regret. When the chairman, Sir George Royle, said the Bench had decided to send her to prison for a month’s hard labour, Mrs Campion almost collapsed, and was assisted by a wardress. She pleaded for a fine to be imposed for the sake ol* her children, saying sho had never been in court before. A man in court also came forward and pleaded for a fine. He said Mrs Campion was a good mother to her children, and he believed there must have been something mentally wrong with her at the time of the thefts. Sir George Royle said there were so many of these petty robberies going on that the Bench could not alter thendecision. A HOME OF GRIEF. The villa house, on the outskirts of Bedford, where Mrs Campion lived, was a home of grief when a visitor called there that night. The two youngest children of the live, girls of twelve and eight, were sitting in tears before the fire because “mother had gone to tho hospital and -won’t be homo for a month”—that was the story they had been told. The temporary mother, who will carry on as best she can in the house, is a brave-faced girl of 16. Sho tried hard to keep back her sobs as she said: “I mean to keep the house just as mother would have it until she comes back. It is going to be bard work, though. I have to work at a factory, and stay away between 7.30 and five, and it means that all the housework must be done when I oome home. “The real trouble is getting my two youngest sisters away to school, but I am going to do it. We have not told them what is the trouble. My two elder brothers are both out at work, and they will help mo all they can. My sisters shall never know that my mother has been sent away to prison as long as I can carry on.” Mrs Campion worked as a housekeeper for Mr C. Caldwell. “She was,” he said, “the best worker and the best mother it is possible to find. I cannot understand why she stole those two things from the bicycle, for there was no need for her to do it.” MAGISTRATE’S STATEMENT. Sir George Royle, the chairman of the magistrates, said when interviewed : “The police were informed that a woman who had bought some pears plaoed them in a basket on a bicycle outsado the shop where sho saw Mrs Campion take them. The woman followed her and called a policeman, who took Mrs Campion to tho police station, where she was charged and let out on bail. Later, detectives searched her house, where they found a jumper that had been stolen a week before in similar circumstances. The woman -was charged with stealing two tilings. Tho chief constable, however, said in court that a great many similar cases had been reported, and*the police wanted to stop them. The woman pleaded guilty and the Bench retired. I, as chairman, asked the other magistrates what was their decision, and they decided unanimously that this was a case where tho woman ought to be sent to prison for a month. “When we came back to the court I announced this decision, and tho woman asked us to fine her instead. 1 appealed to the other magistrates and asked them whether they would retire again to re-consider the case. Their reply was, ‘No, it is our duty, and we think our decision is the right one.’ I see it is reported that the woman has five children, but I believe three of them are over 21 years of age and earn their own living.”