ALLEGED THEFT OF JEWELS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 61

ALLEGED THEFT OF JEWELS.

GOODS VALUED AT £2400.

JOCKEY REMANDED IN CUSTODY. AUCKLAND, October 2. At 1.30 this morning Detective M’Whirter went to a city hotel and arrested Francis M'Govern, aged 25, one of the best-known hurdle horsemen in New Zealand, on a charge connected with the recent big jewel theft in Sydney. M'Govern later appeared before Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Police Court, when he was charged with stealing at Point Piper, Sydney, between September 3 and 13, from the dwelling of John Sydney Bovill, a diamond and platinum brooch and other diamond jewellery, two suitcases, and two pairs of binoculars, of a total value of £2400.

Detective Sergeant T. Kelly asked that M'Govern should be remanded until October 9. “An escort is coming from Sydney, and an application for the accused’s extradition to New South Wales will ba later made,” added Mr Kelly. The magistrate granted the remand. Mr Oliphant, who appeared for M'Govern, asked that his name should be suppressed. In the meantime, he said, the charge looked rather ominous, but his client had a complete answer, and an absolute denial that he was in any way guilty. Counsel also asked that bail should be allowed. “ M'Govern,” he said, “is a well-known and respectable jockey ” Detective Sergeant Kelly. He has not got a license now anyway. Mr Hunt, S.M.: Is he an Australian or a native of New Zealand?

Mr Oliphant replied that M'Govern was a New Zealander, and that he had an application before the racing authorities at the present time. Mr Hunt: All the more reason that they should know of this matter. Counsel said that M'Govern had been visiting Ellerslie every morning recently, and had been keeping in touch with the detectives. Only on Saturday last he had handed over a pair of binoculars to the police. These had been presented to him by a man in Sydney before returning to New Zealand. The magistrate refused to grant bail, and also refused the application for an order for the suppression of M'Govern’s name.

The police stated this morning that Mr Bovill, a wealthy resident of Sydney, left his house in charge of a young man (not M'Govern) between September 3 and 13. On returning Mr Bovill found that his jewellery and also the young man were missing. Subsequent inquiries by the New South Wales police resulted in a warrant being issued tor M'Govern’s arrest.