PLOT TO ROB STORE
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER A plot to rob a West End store was described at a London court' recently when Miss Kathleen Esme Grose, aged 30, shop assistant, pleaded guilty to stealing eight dresses, value £2B 4s 6d, and her mother, Mrs Edith Maty Grose, aged 53, was charged with receiving the dresses. “ They are both persons in a good 'position in life and in comfortable circumstances,” declared Mr Ray Whiteway, prosecuting. Mr Whiteway explained that Miss Grose was taken on as a temporary assistant at the store, and was to receive £2 2s a week and commission. A buyer saw Miss Grose carrying dresses over her arm from the fitting room. Mrs Grose, carrying a suitcase, also left the room. The buyer followed her and spoke to the store superintendent, who followed Mrs Grose across the road to another shop* Seeing that she was being followed, she dropped the suitcase, ran downstairs to the street, boarded a bus, and disappeared. The eight dresses were found in the suitcase. When seen by Mrs Dyer, an inquiry officer, Miss Grose said, “ I will take the blame. I don’t want my mother implicated. I have been out of work.” To Detective Sergeant Differ, who was called, Miss Grose stated: “I am very sorry it happened. It was my mother, but do leave her out of it. I will take the blame. It was my fault.” Later, added Mr Whiteway, Mrs Grose declared, “ I am no shoplifter. I took the property from my daughter.” Detective Sergeant Differ revealed that Mrs Grose kept a guest house at Ealing. Miss Grose was fined £lO, with £3 3s costs, and Mrs Grose was fined £2O, with £5 5s costs. Giving his decision, the magistrate, Mr .J. B. Sandbach, K.C., remarked: “ This was obviously deliberately planned. As soon as she got to the firm the daughter conspired with her mother to rob them, and rob them in a wholesale fashion.
“ There is not oven the excuse of poverty. It was deliberate and calculated fraud, and I am not sure I ought not send you both to prison.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19360217.2.129
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 22807, 17 February 1936, Page 15
Word Count
353PLOT TO ROB STORE Otago Daily Times, Issue 22807, 17 February 1936, Page 15
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