POLICE NIGHT RAID

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20104, 24 March 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

POLICE NIGHT RAID

ACTION FOR DAMAGES. LODGED.

A raid by policemen on the premises of a Wiltshire farmer because, it was alleged, cock-fighting was suspected, was related before Mr Justice Acton at Devizes Assizes at the hearing of an action for damages brought by the farmer. Mr George Giddings Ruddle, of Burton. Bishops Cannings, near Devizes.

The defendants were Sergeant Thomas Howell, of the Wiltshire Constabulary, who was sued for damages alleged to have arisen out of the execution of a search warrant, and Mr Herbert Sainsbury, of Greystone House, Devizes, a magistrate, who signed the warrant, which it was alleged empowered the police to “search for fowls or cocks, and any instruments retained for lighting or baiting.’ It was stated for Mr Ruddle that his house was surrounded by police about ten o’clock at night and that while some of the police searched the house, taking up carpets and turning out cupboards and drawers, others jumped in and out of windows and did damage in the garden. Mr Ruddle, in the witness-box, said that at the time of the raid he was suffering from gout, and was lying on

“Sergeant Howell and other officers.” ke added, “lifted both myself and the sofa bodily.”

VMr Justice Acton: I don’t understand this. There is no harm in keeping game cocks, is there? Mr Ruddle: Not that I know, my lord.

Cross-examined, Mr s Ruddle denied that any cock-fighting was in contemplation. He admitted having been fined £25 in 1921 for unlawfully keeping a cockpit, but not for fighting

Mr Goddard, for two defence, submitted there could be no action against the police because they acted on what purported to bo a legal warrant. He admitted, however, that under the Act Mr Sainsbury had n« authority for issuing such a warrant.

Mr Sainsbury said the information on whiche he signed the warrant was that cockfighting was suspected on Mr Ruddle’s premises, and he understood the matter was urgent and that the warrant must be acted on forthwith. He signed it about 9 p.m. The hearing was adjourned.