PLANTED STOLEN GOODS IN TREE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 31 March 1931, Page 6

PLANTED STOLEN GOODS IN TREE.

man admits burgling A HOUSE AT CASHMERE. After Ronald Dempsey Crook, a cook, aged nineteen years, had burgled a house at Cashmere belonging to J. 11. Stringer, he hid stolen goods to the value of £24 13s in a hollow tree on the banks of the Avon and awaited developments. Crook had not to wait long, because he had been seen by Detective Findlay in the vicinity of the crime. He was interviewed and admitted breaking and entering the house. The result was that he was charged in the Magistrate’s Court this morning with the offence. Crook pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. John Henry Stringer, of 25, Cashmere Road, said that he and his wife were away from home on the afternoon mentioned. When they returned at six o'clock, they found that the place had been ransacked. Jewellery and goods to the value of £24 13s were missing. French windows leading to a bedroom had been forced open. These had been securely fastened when he left in the early afternoon. Detective Findlay said on the afternoon of that day he saw Crook in Colombo Street South, walking toward the city. Next day, when interviewed in connection with the burglary, he made a statement admitting it. In the statement, Crook said he met a man named Anderson and went for a ride with him on a bicycle round Sydenham and Cashmere. A boy pointed out Mr Stringer’s house and said that he had seen the people leave. Anderson and he went to the grounds later on. He went on to the house by himself, pulled open a french window and took a few trinkets and some money. He then rejoined Anderson, and later planted the goods in a hollow tree near the Plunket rooms. The detective said that Crook later showed him where the goods were to be found. They were planted behind a piece of tin nailed over a hollow in the tree.