GOLD ROBBERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

GOLD ROBBERY

ASTOUNDING COUP "VERY DANGEROUS MAN" CROYDON AIRPORT CRIME Saddled with the guilt of one of the most audacious and ekiverly-planned crimes in recent history—-the theft of £21,000 worth of gold from Croydon Aerodrome, London—an ex-convict was recently sentenced to seve:a years' penal servitude at Croydon Quarter Sessions. It is obvious, however, that more than ono man was concerned in this astounding coup, which was so well-timed and executed that the gold was spirited away and disposed of without trace. Without a flicker of emotion beyond a fleeting smile, Cecil Swanland, a 47-year-old "artist, engineer, financier and variety artist," heard Mr. R. P. Colam, K.C., the Recorder, pasis sentence of seven years' penal servitude upon him. He had been standing erect in the dock. The moment his fate was known he turned quickly on his heel, and . after giving one quick glance at his young wife, whom he married only last November, and who sat weeping at the back of the Court, he went down to the cells.

Swanland had been found guilty of being concerned with others in break r ing into the bullion room at Croydon Aerodrome on March 5-6,. and. stealing three boxes containing three bars of gold, 5000 U.S.A. gold coins, and 5800 sovereigns, the property of Machinery and Technical Transport, Limited, London.

Two other men who had been charged with him Had been found not guilty and discharged. Amazing Story Unfolded

Swanland, said the police, vvas first sentenced in 1907 when prosecuted by his father for whom he had been working. Released in June, 1908, he was arrested in the following December for being concerned in stealing- letters from letter-boxes by means of a piece of string attached to a paper bag covered with bird-lime. One of the letters stolen contained a banker's cheque. A new cheque-book was obtained, and £6BO by means of a forged cheque. His arrest was being sought a month after his release on licence in 1912 for stealing letters and extracting cheques. While he was staying at a well-known hotel he sent the commissionaire to a bank with a forged cheque for £1750. " It strikes me you are a very dangerous man," remarked the Recorder. "Society has got to be protected." > An amazing story was unfolded in the evidence. It was alleged that the boxes containing the gold were removed from the strongroom at the aerodrome in the early hours of the morning, while the only occupant of the premises was away for 4o minutes receiving a German airliner.^ That morning a taxicab-diiver named Manson picked up four men at King's Cross and drove them to the vicinity of the aerodrome. The four men got out and walked in the direction of the aerodrome. They returned m a smaU car, and transferred to the taxieab three boxes. The taxieab went to Pemberton Road, Harringay, where Swanland had rooms. There the police subsequently found seals from the boxes. Flatly denying the charge, Swanland told a curious story in the witness-box. He declared he was in the habit of rising early and going for a walk, ana, on the morning of the robbery, went out early and walked round the park. , Swanland's Evidence

He encountered a cab, ill which was a man [whom he knew as Little Harry." " He told me that they had been oiitat a club ' binge,' " Swanland explained. "Up against the seat of the cab, and partly covered by a raincoat, were three boxes. The lids were in pieces and were sticking out at the top. I asked him what they were. Harry said, ' Some of the mob put thern m, and said, " There is your luggage. " I did not mean the cab to go to my house. I intended to get him a drink, and that would hare been the end of it, but I could not find a corkscrew. Little Harry did not offer me the boxes. I asked him for them. I took two of them in and he took in the other. He came into -the house. The fire was alight, but very poor, and I put some of the wood on and it made a lot of smoke. Little Harry stayed about half an hour. My wife was in the next room." Mr. Eastwood, defending: Did you break in or in any way take this gold from Croydon Aerodrome ?—No. Did you ever see any gold?— When you saw these boxes were they empty?— They were.

Purchase of Jewellery When you got these boxes had you any idea they were stolen ? —None whatever. Did you ever have any conversation in Brixton prison with the man Steel (a prisoner who had alleged that Swanland told him somebody had "shopped him) ? —No, nor with any other prisoner. Mr. Graham Brooks, prosecuting, asked Swanland whether ,on the afternoon after the robbery he ordered £59 worth of clothes, bought a pair of gold cuff-links and selected a brooch valued at £SO for his wife. Swanland replied that the clothes bad been spoken about two months before, and he admired the brooch, but did not buy it. He exchanged a pair of cuff-links for another pair and paid £2 besides. Where were you expecting; to get the money from? —I was earning money on commissions for other people. I had also got three people interested in a deal about a site, but my arrest stopped that. . Swanland explained that why he took the empty boxes into his house was that they were short of firewood. Mr. Brooks: Do you ask the jury to believe that at 6.30 a.m. you took to your house a man in a semi-intoxicated state, whose name you don't know, whose address you don't know, and whom you met bv accident, with three empty boxes in a taxicab? _ . Swanland: It is perfectly plain, isn t it? I did not say he was drunk, but he had had a few drinks. Wife's Allegation Mrs. Swanland, his wife, declared that when she told Inspector Widdocks that her husband had been with her the previous night, he said, " You are as big a liar as your husband. He said 1 knew as much about it as my husband, and that they had a good mind to take me along with them, she added. " I said I was willing. Inspector Widdocks, recalled to the box, denied both these allegations. In his summing-up, Mr. Colam reminded the jury that'it had been suggested that if Swanland were guilty he would have got rid of the various articles found in the house. _ " It is most extraordinary in the history of crime," he added, " that, even with the cleverest criminal in the most elaborate and cleverly designed some stupid little thing is overlooked. At the conclusion of the trial Airs. Swanland, who is a girl of good fanit!y> obtained permission to see her husband, and was escorted by a policeman to the colls.