POLITE THIEF’S REWARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19124, 19 March 1924, Page 10

POLITE THIEF’S REWARD.

BANK ACCOUNT SUBSCRIBED. SIX YEARS TO SERVE FIRST. Seldom has there stood in the dock of a British criminal court such an amazing personality ns James Clarke, or, to give him his real name, Bertram Wyndbam Woodhouse, "gentleman burglar,” who was sentenced at Guildford Assizes to eix years’ penal servitude for burglary. And rarely, if ever, has a burglar gone to prison with the knowledge that when ho was released there would be a banking account, furnished in part by magistrates, for hfm to draw on. Id addition to handing in a written confession of his crimes, which occupied 31 pages of foolscap, he, in an eloquent address to Mr .Justice Rowlett, thanked his captor. Superintendent Boahier, of the Woking police, whom he described as a gentleman as well as a zealous officer. He declared that people had come to him and thanked him for the "nice” way in which ho had behaved when he broke into their houses. This was confirmed by the police, who stated that during the whole of his burglaries Wnodhouse never wilfully or unnecessarily broke anything, nor did he damage furniture. When caught he quite voluntarily confessed fo 1!) other burgalics which he had committed and which otherwise would have remained mysteries. Ho also helped the. police in recovering the proceeds of his thefts. The total value of his robberies this year nporoximated £I7OO, Woodhouse stated that his share of the total was only £‘2lo. Woodhouse, whose father was a major in the Regular Army, was given what some people consider an unnecessarily stiff sentence for a minor and first offence committed as a young man. Since then, he stated, ho had never had a chance. Since 1007 he had undergone numerous terras of imprisonment. Now not only have the police promised fo help him, but also certain people, including two magistrates in the Woking neighbourhood, have opened a banking account in his favour. The sum is not a large one, bui it is intended to "put him on hie feet" when he is released.