INFANT GANGSTERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22546, 13 April 1935, Page 19

INFANT GANGSTERS

REMARKABLE LONDON CASE Ten small boys, whose ages ranged from 9 to 14, who formed a " gang atiu established their headquarters in the room of an empty house in North London, came before the Kingsley Hall Juvenile Court, Notting Hill, recently, charged with stealing and receiving articles valued at £OBO. Five airguns were found in the "headquarters —the boys called .it their 3 shack "—when the police visited the The lads met there daily. They screened the windows with sacks and lighted the room with lanterns. The activities of the boy gangsters were revealed when a policeman stopped one of the lads in the etretl and questioned him about possession of an electric torch. Various charges relating to articles taken from motor cars were made against the boys. Seven of them w <>•;'• iji ■< charge relating to a diamond ring valued at £550. This ring, with £ls in notes and a cheque book, was in a woman a handbag reported missing from .1 motor car. One of the boys told the detective he had thrown the ring down a street drain near Regent's Park. The officers were able to locate the drain, and, after a three hours' search, recovered the ring. When the boys originally appeared before the magistrate, one of them pleaded guilty to stealing the ring. Six others were found guilty of receiving it. A detective stated it was believed that the boys had used the room at the empty house for about three weeks. When the lads appeared in court, after a remand so that reports could be obtained of their individual characters, the magistrate ordered that three of them should be sent to special schools, and six placed on probation. The last boy was bound over in the care of his parents. *' I have no doubt it started with a good many of you thinking it would be fun to pretend you were Indians and to live in this empty house," said the magistrate. " Some of you unfortunately had previously done dishonest acts, and you thought nothing of getting things to put in your so-called ' shack.'