ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.

MONEY STOLEN FROM BANK. BANDIT RUN TO EARTH. A SENSATIONAL CHASE. SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON. Thrilling hold-up scenes, described to Mr. Justice Rigby Swift and a jury at Winchester Assizes, had, as their picturesque central figure, a 24 year-old clerk named John Thurston, whose home is in Ireland. Neatly dressed in a blue serge suit, with fawn collar and tie, he bowed gravely to the judge, and in a quiet voice pleaded not guilty to five counts of an indictment charging him with robbery under arms and shooting with intent to murder.

According to Mr. Harris counsel for the crown, the robbery took place at the small branch office of Lloyds Bank at Copnor, Portsmouth. Mr. Mountford, the manager, was there alone on the rii>>himg of the offence, r About 11 a.m. Thurston entere'd the bank, and presenting a revolver at Mr. Mountford, exclaimed, " Hands up! Hand over all the cash!" Mr. Mountford stepped back toward an inner door, but on Thurston shouting " Come out, or I'll shoot you through the door,' came forward again. The man repeated his threat, and Mr. Mountford, realising himself at his mercy, handed T'urston a bundle of notes, which he snatched, -and then turned to leave. '• Mr. Mountford raised the flap of the counter to give chase, whereupon the visitor fired at him point-blank, fortunately missing. Mr Mm tklord 1 pursued' I ston along a couple of streets. Two other men who were in the ■ neighbour hood, Mr. A. T. Goodyear, a retired police superintendent, and Mr. J. E. Upshaw, a van driver; joined in tbf l Mr. Goodyear, however, was outdistanced, and Mr. Upshaw, on reaching some brickfields which prisoner was making lor. found he could got his lorry no further. At the brickfield Thurston, still pursued by Mr Mountford, seized a bicycle belonging to a workman, and after covering with his revolver some men who tried to prevent him, rode, away. Mr. G F. Marx, tea salesman, who, was driving a horse and van in the neighbourhood, went after Thurston on foot for a while, and then met Mr. W. C. Ewins, a traveller, who was driving a car. Mr. Marx jumped on the footboard, and continued the chase. Thurston reached Penhale Road, where Messrs. Marx and Ewins ran him down, the front part of the car passing over the cycle. Shots Fired at Policeman. The prisoner scrambled to his feet unhurt,- and as the, men were alighting from the car fired point blank at them, but missed . both. Sergeant Hopkinson. and. Inspector Warren then arrived on ( the scene in a motor-lorry, frorn which, As it drew abreast of Thurston, who was then walking, Sergeant Hopkinson leapt. Thurston heard him and half turned round with the revolver in his hand, but before he could use it, the sergeant pinned his arms bringing him to the ground. Inspector Warren afterwards wrested the revolver from his grasp. On being searched at the police station prisoner had in his possession fifty £1 Treasury notes, a cap and a black face ma-sk. The revolver .contained three live. cartridges, two spent cases, and one empty chamber. When Mr. Mountford was preparing to leave the witness-box .after completing his evidence, the. judge remarked to him. t'think .yon ar& an .extremely -brave man, you acted, with very great .courage, rind the community ; are indebted to you For your courage on this occasion." >' Mr. Denning, counsel for the prisoner, ' agreed that there was little question ,about the main facts, but Thursfori's st&te Of mind at the time,: he submitted, altered the whole complexion of the matter. Fre- '■ quently, he had uncontrollable fits of , violence, and there was evidence that he , was mentally irresponsible. His only intention in shooting at the man. was to ijesist. arrest. , .. Replying to the judge, stated that he was not prepared , to ' advance a ; plea' of insanity. | The Judge: Then h'e must be treated as an ordinary sane person.

The Prisoner's Bad Memory. I There was a hush in court when Thurston stepped into tho box to relate his story. He told how he joined the British Army in 1919, serving for a short time on the Afghanistan frontier. While there he contracted malaria, from which he still suffered Returning in 1921, he joined, the intelligence department of the Irish Free, State army, in which he had many narrow escapes from death by shooting. He had taken part " until 1924 in the whole of the hostilities, which had had almost distastrous effect on his nerves. He had returned to England about three weeks prior to his arrest, going to Portsmouth to visit ; his mother Thurston maintained that he had no recollection of the hof.d-np. He had a dim recollection of going to chapel. Beyond that he could remember nothing until being charged at the police station. Asked the reason for his carrying a revolver at the time, Thurston replied that when entraining for Portsmouth, at Paddington, he recognised a man with whom he had been engaged in hostilities in Ireland, the man having received a term of imprisonment. Always more or less expecting trouble, he carried the revolver, as he suspected tha man of following him. "Wicked and Desperate Crime.'' The prisoner's wife, described his fits of violence, and declared that after they were over he bad no recollection of them. The jury found Thurston guilty of armed robbery, and guilty of shooting with intent to resist arrest. Your crime was a wicked and' desperate one," commented Judge Swift. "You are a wicked and* dangerous character, arid the sentence of the court is that von b6 imprisoned in penal servitude for seven years." Thurston showed considerable signs of distress as he was taken below. In commending the five men concerned in prisoner's capture, the judge declared that the arrest was due in a great mensure 'to their presence of mind and sense of citizenship Messrs. Ooodyear and Upshaw were awarded two guineas each, and Messrs. E'wins and Marx three guineas each. Observing that he was iin&hle to make a monetary award to Sergeant Hopkinson. the judge said he his remarks would be. brought to the notice of the officer's superiors and that they would recognise his courage. ■