PICKPOCKETS AT RACES

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 July 1947, Page 6

PICKPOCKETS AT RACES

ONE MAN PLEADS GUILTY; ANOTHER COMMITTED! FOR SENTENCE (P.A.I Nelson, July 16. At his own request, James Wilson appeared before Mr. Justice Cornish in the Supreme Court at commencement of sittings yesterday to enter a plea of guilty to charges of theft from the person and attempted theft from the person at Richmond Park during the Nelson Jockey Club’s race meeting on Saturday, April 19. He was remanded till Wednesday for sentence.

In Lower Court proceedings recently, Wilson and Patrick John Mee were jointly charged with picking pockets at the Nelson races, the police case being based on the evidence of three college boys, Richard Kerridge and the brothers Alasdair and Anthony Clark, who followed the men about in a crowd behind the totalisfitor and on the lawn, watching their movements before reporting the matter to the police. Both men were committed for trial.

The jury to-day returned a verdict of guilty on both counts against Patrick John Mee, charged with the theft of £BO from the person of Charles J. Ruffell at the Nelson Jockey Club’s races at Richmond Park on April 19 and attempting theft from a person whose identity was unknown.

Mr. Justice Cornish commented that he was in entire agreement with th e jury, and accused was remanded for sentence.

Giving evidence in the case against Mee, who was charged with theft from the person of Charles James Ruffell, and attempted theft from a person whose identity was unknown, Ruffell, who is aged 85, said he remembered a large man blocking his progress on one occasion when he was coming away from the totalisator. He took £l3O to the races, putting £BO (eight £lO notes) in his inside coat pocket. On arriving home he found that the £BO was gone. A college boy, Richard Kerridge, aged 13, described the movements of Wilson and Mee. He saw Wilson putting his hand into men’s pockets, in one case taking out what looked like a pound note. Mee was behind Wilson pushing him along, and keeping right over him. He watched Mee stand in front of Ruffell while Wilson, standing behind Ruffell, slipped his hand under the latter’s coat. Kerridge described how the two men worked among the lines of people behind the totalisator, in the bar and along a fence adjoining the course while spectators were waiting for a race to start. Witness was with Alasdair and Anthony Clark, two other college boys. After consulting his mother, witness reported the men to the police. Cross-examined, Kerridge said he saw Wilson tap the pockets of seven or eight men and at times he would slip his band into their pockets. Mee just stood close to Wilson as if shielding him. The men interfered with about 18 men.

Alasdair Clark corroborated Kerridge’s evidence.

Senior-Sergeant H. E. Knight, who was on racecourse duty, said he watched both men for some time. When the horses vzere parading and the people crowded against the fence, Wilson, with an overcoat over an arm, would crowd closely against persons in front of him and feel their pockets. Mee kept close to Wilson on his right side. At the time Mee would hang on the shoujder of the man receiving attention and talk to him. Wilson had picked a pocket and was in the act of transferring the proceeds to Mee when witness and the course inspector, T. AUsopp, arrested them.” When evidence was continued to-day Thomas William Allsopp, Palmerston North, racecourse inspector, described the arrest of Mee and Wilson (who has pleaded guilty to a charge of picking pockets). Witness said he and Senior-Sergeant Knight followed the men through the crowd on the fence. Wilson had his right hand and arm through the sleeve of a raincoat which he carried under his arm. There appeared to be some banknotes in the end of the sleeve and Wilson appeared to be in the act of passing them to Mee. Noticing witness, Wilson hesitated, and whatever was in the end of th e sleeve disappeared up the sleeve. Witness then grabbed Wilson. Senior-Sergeant Knight arrested Me e and had trouble in getting him out of the crowd. Witness found nothing in the sleeve of Wilson’s coat. After the arrest Mee and Wilson denied knowing each other. Mr. Allsopp said he was conversant with the methods of pickpockets where a large crowd was stationary. They often worked in pairs, the reason for working in pairs being that a pickpocket might be noticed and by handing the money on to the second man he was without the stolen money if arrested.

The defence did not call any evidence.

Summing up, His Honour said that pocket-picking was more likely to take place on a racecourse than anywhere else, but it was gratifying to know that there had not Deen a great deal of it in New Zealand. It was an unusual charge and it had been an interesting case. Mr. Joseph had rightly said that the fact that Wilson was pleading guilty did not make Mee guilty, but in the eyes of the law Wilson was guilty. There was the evidence of th e boys who watched the men for one and a-half hours and saw the two together the whole time. The boys might have been “pickpocket” conscious, but the methods described by the boys were corroborated by the police. The boys might never have noticed Mee and Wilson but for being not “pickpocket-minded” but “pie-minded." Pies were dear to a boy’s heart, and it was strange that a pie should have caused these two men such a lot of trouble. It might hav e been just a fluke that the boys saw tapping fingers and the towering presence of the big man behind. It had been established, said His Honour., that Ruffell had been robbed because Wilson had pleaded guilty to it. There was also the question of the amount of money found on the two men. No explanation had been given. They might have thrown away their “tote” tickets, but they did not say so to the detectives. Also, they disavowed each other, though they know each other very well. If Mee was an honest man, why should he suspect uncharitably that poor Wilson was going to be charged? The Crown’s case was that there were two minds with but the single thought'of separating the people of Nelson from their money.