LIVED ON BURGLARIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIVED ON BURGLARIES

£2OO A YEAR INCOME THREE YEARS IN PRISON { Having made nn income of about £360 as a result of single-handed burglaries extending over nearly txo years, a small, lithe man, John Barnes, aged 30, a native of London, eventually fell into the hands of the Devonshire police, and has now gopo into penal servitude. At Exeter, Barnes pleaded guilty to fivo cases of burglary and housebreaking at Torquay^and Paignton, and desired that 24 other similar offences should be taken into consideration. His correct name is supposed to be Leslie John Wall, and he has filled positions as barman at Cricklewood, roundsman for various London firms, and railwayman at Rhyl. Prosecuting counsel stated that Barnes specialised in breaking into private houses, and in some cases he entered rooms in which tho occupants were sleeping and robbed them without causing any noise. He got into one house by climbing a ladder which had been left in the garden, and letting himself in through the turret window. When Barnes was finally caught in a house he was wearing rubber-soled shoes and had a torch and a jemmy on him. He had stated that in all his exploits he had never used any violence, which Avas true.

A detective spoke of Barnes as an expert burglar, who had terrified tho • inmates of some houses. Ho usually paid his visits between 1 and 4.30 a.m. * All that Barnes had to say an excuse was that ho had always had a horror of finding himself out of work with no money to live on. Mr. Justice Hawker' You seem to have been living at the rate of a year at other people's expense, and you will go into penal servitude for three years.