SUPER-MOTOR THIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17234, 9 August 1919, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUPER-MOTOR THIEF.

THIRTY CARS STOLEN. ■ < "ONLY-ONE, OF A- GANG." .Ci ; .DeScribed as 'a su]plir-nKitoir thief/ and I confessing that since Christmas he' had stolen over thirty " motor-cars, * SidneyMeredith, aged 22, was siehfcencedj at Lon'don sessions, to "three years' penal servitude. He was, charged with Stanley Wil- j liam Cowper, '*-aged ' 39, a 'joSier, and j Thomas Smith, aged 46, a motor engineer, j who were sentenced to twelve months' im-; prisonment and months' hard i labour respectively. The men were convicted of having been concerned in stealing and receiving cars' belonging. to Lord St. Germans and Colonel Vernon. George Waidegrave Kell. A remarkable story was told by Detec-tive-sergeant Gross, who said that Meredith had made a statement in which 'he confessed that since Christmas he had stolen no fewer than thirty cars of all makes- The truth of his confession was borne out by. the dates and the particulars he had fnrnished to the witness. On one occasion he stole two cars on the same night. They belonged to brother officers, and" having garaged the first one, Meredith returned and sold the second. ~./ Meredith added: I am only one of a gang. The man who is running this show I is worth many hundreds of thousands of i pounds. I steal them, and I get very little ; for them. Sometimes I aeil them to a private dealer; then I get a better price. j