ARMED ROBBERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARMED ROBBERS

PARK LANE RAID JEWELLERY WORTH £20,000 AMERICAN CROOK IN LONDON Sentence of 12 years' penal servitude was passed by Mr. Justice Goddard, at the Old Bailey, London,, last month, on an American, James Hynes, aged 53, for a £20,000 jewel robbery with violence at a flat in Park Lane. Hynes was recommended for deportation at the end of his sentence. Mr. Justice Goddard told Hynes that ho was a professional burglar who had inflicted his presence on England since 1928 after finding, the United States too hot to hold him. This was the second time he had committed a crime involving violence. \Vith two other ruffians, he had got into a woman's flat, and they were cowards enough to frighten her with revolvers while they were disguised, and then to rob her. llynes, added the judge, had committed the offence while on ticket-of-leave, and would have to serve any remnant of his previous sentence.

Woman "Accessory" Jessie Rubin, aged 26, a typist, of Bow, who pleaded guilty to being an accessory alter the fact of the robbery, and not guilty to receiving, was sentenced to" nine months in the second division. She was said to have rented a strong-box in a Liverpool safe deposit, where the stolen jewels were placed. The prosecution offered 'no evidence against Rubin's sister, Mrs. Sarah Kornbinth. aged 4:5, who pleaded not guiltv to being an accessory after the fact," and she was discharged. It was stated that there was a close attachment between Miss Rubin and Hynes, who had known her since she was 10. She wrote to him while he was in prison to "cheer him up." Mr. Justice Goddard commented: "He does not look to me a person who would infatuate a young girl. The case was a sequel to a raid on the flat of Mrs. Millicent HeskethWright at Aldford House, Park Lane. On November 9, it was stated, Hynes and two other men went to the flat and presented revolvers at the housekeeper. She was bound hand and foot to a chair. The three men then hurst open Mrs. Hesketh - Wright's bedroom door. She jumped out of bed, and a piece of material was tied over her eyes. She was led into another room and told to open the safe, from which Hynes took cash and jewellery worth £19,552. The men returned to the bedroom. Ihe housekeeper was brought in, and both women were tied up with strips of sheets. They were told not, to move for half an hour, as they were covered by a mail with a revolver.

Two Others Not Charged Replying to Air. Du Carin, defending, Chief-inspector Parker said that no weapon was found 011 Hynes when he was arrested. Two other men were taken into custody 011 suspicion of being concerned in the robbery, but they were not charged. Mr. Du Cann declared that Hynes, after being out of prison only one week, met in the .Marble Arch subway the two other men. who proposed to him the plan to raid the flat. Hynes, added Mr. Du Cann. said that in these circumstances he went unarmed. When he got to the flat it became apparent to him that Mrs. Jles-keth-Wright was far from willing to part with the jewels. Ilvnes thought that he could dispose of the jewels at a better price in America, but his confederates, who thought he was going to keep the jewels for himself, rang up the police.