DARING BURGLAR COMMITS CRIMES IN BROAD DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17705, 27 November 1925, Page 1

DARING BURGLAR COMMITS CRIMES IN BROAD DAY.

CITY WAREHOUSES SUFFER FROM VISITS OF YOUNG THIEF. Three fur coats. Three pairs ot' pyjamas. Tennis flannels. Silk stockings. Fancy garters. Four leather suit-cases. Ladies* silk underwear. This was portion of the booty stolen from two city -warehouses by a young burglar who used ingenious and daring methods. He worked in daylight, and managed to disarm the suspicion of those who saw him . The burglar, Graham Pitcaithly, aged twenty-two. appeared at the Magistrate’s Court this morning, and was charged with having on October 26 broken and entered by day the premises of Butterworth Bros., Lichfield Street, and stolen goods valued at £l3O. He was also charged with having broken and entered by day on November 2, the premises of the Kaiapoi Manufacturing Company, and stolen goods valued at £24. Pitcaithly pleaded guilt}', and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Mr H. S. Williams, manager of Butterworth Bros., said that the goods in Pitcaithly’s possession at the time of his arrest were similar to those stocked by his firm. He recognised the accused as a man who had been helping to clean the windows of the warehouse. He did not know that a burglary had been committed until he had been told of it by the police. Pitcaithly left for Wellington after he had committed the crimes, and he was arrested there by Detective Hunt. In evidence, Detective Hunt, of Wellington, told the Court of the statements and confessions that Pitcaithly had made to him. Accused admitted to him that Butterworth’s had been broken into on the afternoon of Labour Day. Entrance bad been gained through a second storev window. The Kaiapoi warehouse had been entered on four different occasions early in the morning. The accused came to the building with his hat and coat off. He carried two kerosene tins containing dusters and walked inside. When he came outside again the stolen goods were carried in the tins, and covered with dusters.