WOMEN PICKPOCKETS.

Waikato Times, Volume 120, Issue 19991, 15 September 1936, Page 9

WOMEN PICKPOCKETS.

CAUGHT BY DETECTIVES. UNDER MOTHER’S INFLUENCE. When a mother and daughter and another woman appeared together in the dock at Blackpool charged with loitering with intent to commit a felony, the chief constable, Mr E. H. Holmes, declared that the two elder women were expert pickpockets, says a London paper. One of them, Annie Callaghan, 57, of Manchester, had convictions dating back to 1901. The chief constable also stated that the other accused, Elizabeth Roberts, 42, of Leeds, was a well-known associate of racecourse thieves and pickpockets, but her daughter, Dorothy Roberts, 19, had not been in trouble before. He was .satisfied that the girl had been acting under the influence and control of her mother. All three, Mr Holmes continued, joined in a tramway queue on the promenade, and came under the observation of Detectives Frank McKenna and John McKenna. When a tram stopped there was a rush to get on to it, and the two Robertses and a man got jammed in the doorway. Callaghan then got behind the man, lifted the back of his coat, and put her hand on his hip pocket. The man turned round and the women went away. The officers followed them, and saw them join another queue in which there was an old man. Captured After Chase. Callaghan got behind him, and while holding her hat in front of her, Elizabeth Roberts pushed forward and lifted the end of the old man’s coat near his hip-pocket. Tl>e old man turned round and protested, and when the detectives went to arrest the women they ran away. The officers, however, caught them after a short chase among the crowds. Detective Frank McKenna told the Court that the younger Roberts acted as a “holder-up,” while the thief, or “dipper,” got behind the victim. Mr T. E. Hinchcliffe, defending, asked the Bench to dead leniently with Callaghan. “Although she has been in the hands of the police time and again since 1901,” added counsel, “she has gone straight since her husband died five years ago. “I suggest she was drawn into this offence by the elder Roberts, whom she met when visiting Blackpool for a week-end.” Callaghan and Elizabeth Roberts were each sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and Dorothy Roberts was bound over for 12 months on condition that she left Blackpool immediately. She broke down as she stepped out of the dock and her mother and Callaghan were taken to the cells before leaving for Strangeways Gaol.