JEWEL THIEF.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 6 January 1928, Page 4

JEWEL THIEF.

WOMAN CULPRIT. SWALLOWS A KING. Alice Myra Mann, a dressmaker, aged 31, who arrived in New Zealand in September last appeared before Mr J. 11. Salmon, S.M., in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to stealing two, gold rings, valued at £4O, the property of Dorothy Oreta limes, and to stealing a five-stone diamond ring valued at £3O, the property of Clark and Morris, jewellers. Detective-Sergeant Holmes said .that after Mann arrived in Wellington she boarded at a house on The Terrace. About November 15 a lady who boarded at the same house missed two rings from her bedroom and, despite inquiries made b; all quarters, did not recover them. Nothing more came to light until last Friday afternoon, when accused visited the store of Clark and Morris,- and having asked to sec a tray of diamond rings, tried to “put across” a trick often resorted to by jewel thieves. When the assistant was not looking she took a ring valued at £SO and substituted for it an inferior one valued at about £3. After she left the shop the fraud was discovered, and later on one of the shop assistants, in company with a police constable, accosted Mann in the street. . She emphatically denied the charge, but was taken to the police station, where she was searched by the matron. However, no trace of the ring was found. Accused, when first spoken to, gave a false address, but afterwards gave the correct one. A search was made, and the two rings missing since November were found. Accused then stated that she had swallowed the diamond ring taken from the jeweller's store. The advice of medical men was sought, and accused was sent to the Public Hospital, the ring later being* recovered. ' It was stated that accused had a list jjf previous convictions in Australia, including a sentence of six months' imprisonment for false pretences. Mr F. Anyon' appeared for Mann and stated that although she had had previous convictions, she was a woman of good standing. She had absolutely no need to steal, and had a considerable bank balance in a New. South Wales bank. Mr Anyon described her action as stupid and foolish, and said that he was of opinion that a tendency towards kleptomania accounted for it. Since accused had bought her ticket to return to Sydney to-day, Mr Anyon suggested that she might be convicted and ordered to leave New Zealand today by the steamer. He further submitted that she had no intention of disposing of the ring she stole, and that she swallowed it in a panic. Accused’s mental and physical suffering must have made her repenant. “She has served six months for false pretences,” said the Magistrate, “and then she came to New Zealand and stole in November and December. It looks to mo as if she is a professional thief.” Accused, who remained silent throughout the proceedings, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on 'ye charge of stealing the two gold rings, and was convicted and ordered to pay medical expenses, £0 Is, in default one month’s imprisonment, on the charge of stealing the diambnd ring.