BAG SPIRITED AWAY

Southland Times, Issue 21822, 27 September 1932, Page 6

BAG SPIRITED AWAY

POST OFFICE NEARLY ROBBED. OVER £2OOO IN STAMPS. A strange story of how the British Postal Department was nearly robbed of postage stamps valued at over £2OOO was told in the Criminal Appeal Court, in London recently, when John Haxby asked that his conviction at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to steal should be reconsidered. Mr Justice Roche explained that the Post Office purchased back from customers unused postage stamps at a discount of five per cent. Those stamps were placed in sacks and periodically burned in an incinerator.

It was alleged that Haxby got into touch with two men, one named Cray, whose duty it was to burn the stamps at the Post Office at Mount Pleasant. On the day in question 18 bags of stamps were sent to the incinerator. The men were expected to take the bags from a chute and empty from them the stamps into an incinerator. It was noticed, however, that Cray allowed one sack, with its contents, to fall into the fire, and his excuse was that it slipped. As a matter of fact, that bag contained rubbish, and the real bag containing stamps valued at £2068, had been cleverly hidden away, it was asserted, for secret conveyance to Haxby. The discovery was made after Post Office officials had become suspicious of Haxby, who had been seen watching when bags of stamps were sent to the office where the burning took place. The arrest of Haxby and his confederates reflected credit on the Post Office staff, added the judge. The court considered that Haxby had been properly convicted. His appeal was dismissed, and the sentence of two years’ imprisonment with hard labour affirmed.