LEFT WIFE PENNILESS

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19765, 21 December 1935, Page 14

LEFT WIFE PENNILESS

SQUANDERED £I2OO. HUSBAND’S RECKLESSNESS. Having spent £I2OO belonging to his wife’s aunt in a year, and leaving his wife and child penniless, a husband was described as a “plausible and incorrigible scoundrel” when he appeared in court at South Shields. Summoned by his 25-year-old wife, who sought a maintenance order, James Rossie, 26, of Middlesbrough, was stated to have lived lavishly in London, Paris, and Hamburg, pretending he was working, and finally fled to India when his aunt was destitute. - v Making an order for 15s a week, the chairman of the Bench told Rossie, “You have treated your family in a cruel and heartless way.”

Appearing on behalf of Mrs Rossie, Mr Felix Regnart explained that the couple had never had a home because Rossie’s work compelled him to ti-avel. In February, 1933, he went to Ireland, leaving his wife behind. She followed him and, when the job came to an end, he returned with her to East Boldon, living for some time with her parents. After a few weeks he approached a Miss Hall, his wife’s aunt, with documents purporting to show that he needed a fidelity bond for a position he had in view, and, by that means, he obtained £250 from her.

Spent Lavishly. It was now known that he had no work at all, but to delude his wife and her relatives he travelled to Newcastle every day, pretending to go to work. Gradually his travels spread to Durham and Lancashire and other parts of the country. It became necessary to increase the fidelity boftd by another £250, and apparently, Mr Regnart added, the rage of his fictitious employment was extended. He began to spend the bulk of his time in London, travelling home perhaps twice a week. “He even roamed as far as Paris and Hamburg, where he spent a considerable time. At Christmas he took his wife to Paris, where he went_ to the ridiculous pretence of escorting her along the River Seine and pointing out some electrical cables on which he was supposed to be working." Mr Regnart said that Rossie had lived in style, hiring cars and spending money lavishly until Miss Hall was relieved of between £I2OO and £ISOO. He had even' pledged his child’s War Savings certificates. After Christmas he vanished, but in March Mrs Rossie received a letter from him stating that he was leaving for Alexandria, Aden, and Calcutta on a Chinese boat.

Rossie admitted that he had taken the money from Miss Hall, adding that since coming home from India he had don* his best to ljve decently.