HOTEL ROBBERY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21361, 2 June 1939, Page 10

HOTEL ROBBERY

SERVANT’S CONFESSION The 39-year-old mother of a 14-year-old girl was stated at Brighton, Sussex, to have told the police that she asked her daughter to get some money from the Brighton hotel where she worked, leave the room in disorder, and open a window to give the impression that someone had broken in. The girl admitted stealing £8 from the hotel, and the mother pleaded guilty to receiving £3/18/-, knowing it to have been stolen. Both were bound over for 12 months. Detective - Superintendent Pelting Informed the Court that the girl made a statement declaring that two or three weeks before the theft her mother was ill in bed, and, saying she was in debt, asked her to get some money. She stole £l/7/6 from the hotel and handed it to her mother, but told her not to touch it until things had quietened down. "I Take the Blame” The licensee’s wife spoke to her and, after admitting she had taken the money she got it back from her mother and returned it. Then she was allowed to stay in her job. Later, her mother asked her to get some more money. While her employers were out, she took £8 and opened one or two drawers, threw clothing on the floor, and opened a window to make it look as though somebody had broken In. “I arranged this with my mother, who said she would phone the licensee later in the day and say she had seen someone climbing in and out of the window,” the statement added. “I took the money home and gave it to my mother.” The superintendent went on to refer to the mother’s statement, and stated that she added, “I will take all the blame.’’