MODERN ROBIN HOOD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21541, 13 January 1932, Page 8

MODERN ROBIN HOOD

STATION MASTER’S LAPSE. A man described by counsel as having played “the role of fairy godmother in a manner reminiscent of Robin Hood, relieving the rich of their surplus money and distributing it among the poor,’ was sentenced at Winchester Assizes recently to 18 months’ imprisonment. The man was Thomas George Clayton Weeks 49, station master at St. Helens, Isle of' Wight, and he was charged with theft and forgery of receipts. . It was stated that Weeks received money from the Southern Railway Company, with whom he had served for 3o years, for the payment of wages of casual workers at the company’s quay at St. Helens, and by means of fictitious wage sheets robbed the company of over £3009 in about four years, Inspector Morrison said that Weeks had been spending £5 weekly on drink. He took his friends about at his own expense and made presents of joints of beef to various villagers. He had spent over £4OO at one butcher’s shop in 12 months. Defending counsel said that Weeks had not put by a “nest egg. He had not a single penny left. Prisoner was stated to have a wife and six children.