STOLE FOR A HOME

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21041, 17 February 1940, Page 12 (Supplement)

STOLE FOR A HOME

Robberies By Couple Young Wife in Role of a "Watcher”

Reckless efforts to establish a home by a young couple madly in love have landed them in gaol, barely a year after marriage, says the News of the World. In order to furnish the love nest they resorted to the appropriation of other people’s property by robbing i houses in an ingenious way, and now their domicile for months to come must be behind prison bars. At Ealing the husband, Thomas Baverstock, aged 20, of Kildare Gardens, Notting Hill, was sentenced to 12 months’ hard labour on four charges of stealing goods worth £2OO from houses in the locality; and his wife, Mabel Baverstock, aged 19, received six months in the second division on three charges of stealing and receiving. Twentv-four other cases of theft against Baverstock were taken into consideration, and his wife admitted nine. When they entered the dock—the husband from custody and the wife surrendering to bail—there was scarcely a look of recognition between them. When, however, the clerk was reading part of Baverstock’s statement —“my wife’s only crime is that she loved me too much to give me sway”—the young woman broke down and cried. Baverstock's eyes also filled with tears Then came the sentences, and a crushing blow to their hopes Deserted from R.A.F. Detective-Inspector K. Matthews cad a statement by Baverstock, in which the man said that, in October, 1938, while an aircraftsman in the U.A.F., he married the girl he had courted for more than two years. Six months later, however, he deerted the Air Force, got a job, and hen fell ill with chicken-pox. His wife was working, and on his return , rom hospital he determined to help he family exchequer. He devised a scheme of going to estate agents, procuring keys to view .in tenanted houses, and then breaking into those occupied premises above or below the empty ones. In the beginning gas-meters were the objective, but later valuables were taken. Baverstock worked alone for a time; his wife knew nothing of his thefts. Then he was refused keys by ?gents and was driven to request his wife to accompany him. At first she was shocked and threatened to leave him, but relented. and finally w*pt with her husband on these unlawful expeditions, acting as “watcher” and also helping to carry away some of the property. In fact, Mrs Baverstock went to the

agents and got the keys when he was turned down. In manv suburbs of London, as far apart as Ealing and Croydon, they put their plan into operation, and it is estimated tKat their total haul ran into several hundreds of pounds. On an average, Baverstock admitted that he entered three houses a week. One of the burgled residences was , that of a young couple married only a few months. They told the News of the World ! that when they returned to their home they found almost all their jewellery and clothing gone. “In fact,” said the husband “we were left denuded of all but the costume and coat my wife had on, and the suit I was wearing at the time. “It was a great shock to us, but happily some of our property has since been recovered.” Poor Among the Victims | Often the people robbed were in j humble circumstances. In one case a woman was faced with the alternative of an unlighted home or return to Newcastle. Her gas supply had been taken away from her. Baverstock and his wife robbed the poor and others just as they willed. When their rooms were searched i the police found all manner of goods, j from saucepans to sewing-machines i and carpets. Some of the jewellery was sold or | pawned, while Baverstock in one j instance crudely and, of course, unsuccessfully, tried to melt down a quantity of silver in a pan heated by j a bunsen burner. All the estate agents lost were the j keys, although in some cases Baver- I stock, after committing his robberies, threw a bunch into a pillar-box and left the agents to pay excess postage. When arrested he had 79 keys on him and at their rooms 404 others were found in a box. In a letter to the magistrates, Baverstock wrote of the “great love” existing between his wife and himself. He said that after joining the J R.A.F. he had “an uncontrollable desire to get married.” He had been courting his wife for two and a half years and had spent all his week-ends in her company before they married. After that he met with financial difficulties, deserted, and took to thieving. As two police officers carried nearly 20 suitcases of stolen property from the court to a waiting van, Baverstock and his wife kissed each other in tearful embrace before being taken away to serve their sentences. h,mihesaid ..hae