GAOL FDR MAIL ROBBER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 641, 18 April 1929, Page 16

GAOL FDR MAIL ROBBER

THEFT FROM WAHINE “MAKINGS OF CRIMINAL” Press Association WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Thomas Gordon and Arthur Henry William Bevan, two young men who pleaded guilty to the theft of postal packets from the ferry steamer Waliine, appeared before Mr. Justice MacGregor for sentence. Counsel for Bevan said he appeared to have been the “mug” in the affair, as the police did not suggest he had done anything more than keep a watch to see that no one interfered. Counsel for Gordon said that he had worked since he was 11 years old, and as a youth he had worked for some years in a racing stable. He had taken the full responsibility for the robbery and desired to be sentenced to a term of hard labour. The Judge: Why does he want hard labour? Counsel: He realises he can’t expect too much leniency and that physical work will, perhaps, do him good. The Judge: I mean, what did he have before? Counsel said he had reformative detention. The Judge: I see, and he did not like it. The Crown Prosecutor said the police regarded Gordon as a person with a very bad reputation and with the makings of a daring criminal. The Judge said Gordon seemed to be fast becoming a hardened criminal. He had asked for hard labour and he would get it. He would be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour. Bevan was ordered to a Borstal institute for two years. The sum of £l6 found on Bevan, admitted to be part of the proceeds of the robbery, was ordered to be returned to the Postmaster-General.