100 CRIMES IN FIVE WEEKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 24, 22 July 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

100 CRIMES IN FIVE WEEKS.

ASTOUNDING PRISON RECORD OF AN ARCHITECT. London, May 27. "I believe it was the pride of Dick Turpin to explain how many hundreds of thousands of crimes he had committed, but I have never seen anything in 'real life like the way in which you pride yourself on telling how you committed' the crimes. It beats the record."

This statement was made by Judge Rentoul at the Old Bailey yesterday to Harold Philip Trevor, aged thirty-four, the man who led the mutiny at Maidstone Prison five years ago, when soldiers with fixed bayonets were called to restore order. Trevor, who is an architect in his spare time, admitted to a policeman that he had committed one hundred crimes in five weeks.

He was charged yesterday with theft in the West End. He is a tall, wellbuilt man, smartly dressed, carries himself with distinction, and speaks in cultured tones.

Mr. Beard, who prosecuted, told the Judge that Trevor was a most plausible thief, who traded on his smart, well-set-up appearance, and he related how Trevor visited furnished houses with permits to view theifl. Detective-Inspector Barrett, of Scotland Yard, gave the court an astonishing account of Trevor's criminality.

"He was educated at Southgate College to become an architect, his parents then being well-to-do people in Kensington," he stated.' "In may, 1896, he was bound over at the' South London sessions for stealing a purse, and on September 28 of the same year he enlisted in the Royal Marines. In May, 1898, he deserted from H.M.S. Pembroke at Chatham, and was taken back, only to desert again the following December. "Two days after deserting he enlisted in the Grenadier Guards, and deserted the next day. He then began criminal operations in the midlands, and Jfor various offences was bound over at Stafford in March, 1899, when his parents sent him to Canada. After a short stay there he returned, and was again convicted at fTie Middlesex Sessions in October, 1599, and sentenced to eighteen months for theft. "As soon as he was liberated in November, 1900, he began committing frauds, with the result that a'month later he was convicted at the North' London Sessions for theft and onpe more ordered eighteen months. While undergoing the sentence he was brought up at Chichester, and given a ■ further period nf six months for ail offence there.

"Within a month of his liberation in July. 1902, he appeared again at the North London Sessions, and was scntenced to three and a-lialf years' penal servitude and two years' police supervision fnr cases of fraud. Hp regained 1 his freedom in April, 1905, and the next month lie returned to prison for live years for a series of frauds. "While serving this sentence he was practically the ringleader in the mutiny among the convicts in Maidstone Prison which resulted in the governor Raving to call a company of soldiers with fixed bayonets to quell the disturbance. "On his release on March 29 this year he was met by his brother, who supplied him with money and 1 an outfit to enable liim to go abroad. Instead, thi> same day he journeyed to Brighton and fraudulently obtained goods. On April 2 he engaged rooms at the Hoiol Cecil, hired a motor-car from the garage there, and in company with a woman went to Echer, where he obtained goods and left her to settle with the hotel people, after he had stolen her ring. "An April 4 he visited Chatham and stole a bag containing clothing. He also called at the Royal Marine Barracks to see Major Noble, who was ill. He was unable to see him, and wrote a note asking the Major to meet him in London. He returned to town, and began ordering goods in the name of Major Noble. "On April 14 he went to Eastbourne, and, visiting the best hotels, obtained through one of them the use of a firstclass horse and carriage, in which he drove to various tradesmen, from which he fraudulently obtained goods and absconded.

"During the five weeks he was at liberty he called at most of the hotels and high-class boarding-houses in the West End, engaged rooms, and used the addresses for the purpose of obtaining goods from tradesmen in ail parts of the metropolis. "In consequence of numerous complaints special watch was kept, and on May 5 Detective-Sergeant Burton, of Scotland Yard, arrested him in Edgeware road. At Kensington Police Station he made a statement in which he admitted that he had committed more than a hundred crimes during the five weeks that he had been at liberty." Trevor was sentenced to four years' penal servitude.