HOLD-UP ON HEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOLD-UP ON HEATH

An episode from the legend of Dick Turpin might well have inspired a heath scene that was described, when six boys, ranging in age from nine years to 15, appeared recently at Hampstead Juvenile Court, London. They were accused of assaulting an 11-year-old boy and robbing him of his purse, containing 3s 3d. Four of the six were also accused of possessing imitation firearms at the time. The pistol and the purse were laid as " exhibits on the table in the little courtroom. The boy whose purse was taken gayo evidence that he was standing with his brother on Hampstead Heath when the six boys surrounded them. " One boy went up to my brother and started attacking him," he declared, " and one took my purse, while another held my arm and pushed his ' gun ' into my back." He alleged that it was the smallest of the six who took the purse, which was in his coat pocket. The brother, aged 15, said he chased the boys, who told him they had put the purse in a hollow tree. A man came to their assistance and held the lad who had taken the purse, while the others went to look for it. His brother went for a policeman. The purse was recovered, but 2s 6d was missing. The smallest boy, who was alleged to have taken the purse, declared it fell out of the " victim's " pocket while he and another lad were wrestling. He picked it up, and another of the boys snatched it from him. It was stated that four of the six had been placed on probation before — three for stealing from a car, and the other i'or stealing a cycle. The chairman, Mr. A. B. Russell: Before we decide what we are going to do with you we are going to give you a week to think it over. The boys were then sent to a remand ; home.