Remarkable Robberies

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7063, 24 January 1933, Page 10

Remarkable Robberies

MAW WITH DIARY. Startling figures ot' robberies of London telephone-boxes were given at the Old Bailey recently in a case in which Mr John Maude, prosecuting, remarked, “I think it is clear that wc have caught tho arch-thief. ” The individual referred to, Stanley Chambers, aged 39, wireless dealer, was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude for stealing £1 16s 5d from a box at Putney. Chambers, it was stated, was seen to go into the Putney telephone box on four occasions. Another man was with him, and when two constables went to arrest them, tho second man flung a bag into the face of one officer and escaped. Inside the bag was £1 18s 3d. Mr John Maude stated that in August last there were 175 robberies of London telephone-boxes, the money stolen amounting to £348. In September thero were .108 robberies, £l9O being stolen, and up to October 15 —when Chambers was arrested—there were <32 robberies, £124 being taken. Since October 15, there had been only three robberies, the amount taken being £6. In the possession of Chambers was a diary containing 53 entries relating to various districts of London. They coincided with robberies of telephoneboxes at those places. A detective stated that Chambers was a married man, with five children. He had been a printer in the West-end, and had published a small sporting paper. It was not a success, and since January last, he had a business in connection with the supply of wireless accumulators. The Recorder, Sir Ernest Wild, K.C.:

You suspect him of being the arch thief?

Witness: Yes, on account of the diary found in his possession. He added that Chambers had promised to assist toward the arrest of the second man, but had not kept his promise.

Chambers denied that the entries 3u tho diary related to tclcplione-hox robberies. He declared they referred to horses in connection with a betting system. The Recorder, passing sentence, told Chambers he had previously been convicted of housebreaking, and had then been dealt with lightly by being bound over.