VANISHED FORTUNE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

VANISHED FORTUNE

LAPSE INTO CRIME THEFT FROM. JEWELLERS PENNILESS MAN ARRESTED An ex-public schoolboy who was stated to have inherited £IO,OOO when lie was 21 and who had only a farthing in his possession when' arrested, admitted at London Sessions recently that he had stolen more than £IOOO worth of jewellery. He was George Morris Dalton, aged 28, an engineer, and ho. pleaded guilty to stealing a £34 diamond ring from Mr. Gordon Nathan, of Old Bond Street, and a watch belonging to Mr. Gavin Cowan, of the Royal Air Force Club. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

Mr. Macdonald, prosecuting, said that Dalton was a native of Leeds and an ex-public schoolboy. "He is well connected and a clever young fellow," he said. "It is a most extraordinary case. This young man has been committing an orgy of crime from March to December last year. He has been obtaining valuable jewellery all over the country, and he has managed to get it without having any money in his pocket at all. It is a remarkable thing that everyone lias trusted him." _ • Detective-Sergeant Bali said that the total value of the jewellery involved in

the 31 charge;* was £1037, and practically all of it had been recovered. Dalton had no previous convictions. " When he was 21 he inherited a lame sum of money left by bis father, which was said, according to some reports, to amount to £7000," added Sergeant Ball, " but he tells me that it was nearer £IO,OOO. He went into business as a motor engineer and lost £BOO in the transaction. He became associated with a gang of crooks who contemplated committing a shopbreaking offence in London. " It was arranged," added the detective, " that Dalton and another young man should get into conversation with the manager of the shop and invite him out to supper and get his keys from his pocket. The keys were obtained from the manager in this way, and an impression was taken and the keys were returned. Dalton became sorry for the manager and told him of the plot. " The manager took him to the police station, and after he had finished the story Dalton said to the police, 'Of course, I am on the run, too.' The officer wanted to know wbat he was on the run for, and he at once admitted that he had obtained the ring at the Old Bond Street shop. " When arrested he was penniless,'* said the detective, " and had only one farthing in his possession."

It was said on Dalton'f? behalf that he was finally driven to commit the jewellery offences because his landlady threatened to go to the police because of the money he owed for his lodgings.