NURSE SENTENCED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23073, 25 June 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

NURSE SENTENCED

BOGUS RESEAECH LETTER TO QUEEN MARY FALSE PRETENCES AND THEFT A nurse of Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham, who wrote to Queen Mary claiming she had discovered the equal to radium was "sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment at Nottinghamshire Hall last month. She is Iris Booker, aged 33, who pleaded guilty to stealing jewellery worth ten guineas from two homes in West Bridgford. Sh© asked that five outstanding cases of false pretences should be taken into consideration. • Inspector Boaler stated that inquiries revealed that in the name of Iris Saunders, Booker wrote the following letter to Queen Mary, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Dawson of Penn: May I suggest if you would be kind enough to subscribe and help me to obtain a rather complicated set of Instruments and glasses for resoarch work. I am a trained nurse, and I believe I have discovered tho equal to radium. It is entirely my own composition, and no one is aware of same. I need in all £5) O. I am not asking for that. I am asking that you will send me anything from 10s Od and permission to add your name as a helper when my discovery is complete. Please treat in confidence, and may I have a reply by return. The letter was headed "The Hospital. Burton Road, Lincoln." Inspector Boaler revealed that Queen Mary did not reply to the letter, nor did Lord Dawson, but the Archbishop's private secretary replied that the Archbishop could not accede to the request. Booker then travelled the country soliciting money for the purpose. She got into touch with a Mr. Bollen, of Croydon, and tried to obtain £8 from him, saying sho could get for that sum one year's supply of medical requisites that normally cost £l4. Bollen sent her £4. It was stated that Booker had seven previous convictions, and had served numerous terms of imprisonment. Passing sentence, the chairman, Mr. J. G. Hancock, said, "I have been a magistrate nearly 32 years and this is absolutely the worst case of robbery, fraud, and misrepresentation that 1 have ever known in that period.