STOLE OVERCOATS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 201, 25 August 1931, Page 8

STOLE OVERCOATS.

Twenty-three Charges Against a Clerk. SYSTEMATIC THEFTS. A series of systematic thefts were sheeted home to Alexander Edward Skilling, a clerk, aged 21 years, in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. He was convicted 1 on twenty-three charges and ordered to be detained for reformative purposes for a period not exceeding two 3 r ears. The charges with one exception related to the theft of overcoats during the past three months. The exception concerned an evening dress. The total value of the goods involved was £65 ss. The coats were stolen from the following :—William Thomas Bradley, John Sidney Piper, Leonard M'Mahon, George Gill Yole, Bruce Duff Alexander, Edward Lightfoot, Gilbert Ashleigh Phear, the Rev Patrick Fay, Peter Voller, Lewis Grenville Pocock, William Chester Cook, Brendan O’Sullivan, Percy James Reid, Pierce Carroll, Frederick Douglas Blackburn, David Maurice Yeoman, Albert Edward Chappell, Leonard Oscar Chivers, Allan White, Walter Bernard Harris, the Rev Joseph Cullen and Francis Durning. The evening dress belonged to Sarah Higgins. Thefts From Schools. Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., heard the case. Detective-Sergeant Young conducted the prosecution. Skilling was not represented by counsel. The detective-sergeant said that in June Skilling set out systematically to steal overcoats from the Technical College, St Bede’s College and different boarding-houses in the city. He gave the police a lot of trouble until August 16, when he was arrested by Detectice Heron. When interviewed, Skilling admitted a series of thefts. “ This class of theft is particularly bad,” said the detective-sergeant. “In many cases the coats were stolen from young people who could ill afford the loss and could not replace them.” In 1928, Skilling was before the Court and was sentenced to three years in the Borstal. At the beginning of the year he was again befor the Court for false pretences. Mr Mosley: What was he doing with the coats? Mr Young: They were mostly sold to dealers. The same one?—No, in different parts of the city. “ There is only one thing to do with this man,” said Mr Mosley, “ and that is to put him under the jurisdiction of the Prisons Board. An endeavour has been made to put him on the right track, but it was not successful. Usually these cases are successful. This is one of the exceptions.” Skilling was convicted on each charge where the value of the overcoat was £2 or over, and ordered to be detained for reformative purposes for a period not exceeding two years. On the charges where the overcoats were under the value of £2, five in all, he was convicted and discharged.