Hoddesdon man's crime record

Hertfordshire Mercury, 16th January 1931

Transcript

Alfred Humberstone , labourer , 104 Amwell Street , Hoddesdon , was charged with stealing a gent’s overcoat and a pair of gauntlet gloves , value £1 12s. 6d. ,the property of Alexander Simpson , at Hoddesdon , on January 11 .

Alexander Simpson , 10 Amwell Street , Hoddesdon , conductor on the P and S coaches , said that on January 9 , about 11 p.m. , he left the coat and gloves in the garage at Burford Street . On going there on Sunday , January 11 , about 10 a.m. , he found they were missing . He valued the coat at 25 shillings and the gloves 7s 6d. The next day he gave information to the Police , and the same evening saw the coat at the Hoddesdon Police Station .

Richard John Kelly , 74 Kingsway , Ponders End , a bus conductor , said that on the evening of January 12 , while conducting a bus between London and Hertford , prisoner , (who was wearing the stolen coat ) got on the bus at Cheshunt . Witness asked him where he was going, and prisoner replied ” I am going to work. ” Witness remarked jokingly ,  ” Well , I shouldn’t go near Hoddesdon if I were you , you’re for it . ” Prisoner then said , ” Well , I didn’t pinch this coat . I burrowed it as mine was wet . ” Prisoner asked for permission to leave the coat on the coach , but witness advised him to take it to the garage.

Inspector George Sharp , Hoddesdon , said that at 9.30 a.m. on the 12th , he received a report that the overcoat and gloves were missing . In consequence of information received , witness went to Northaw and Potters Bar , and at 10 p.m. the same day he visited the P and S garage at Burford Street , where he saw the overcoat lying on the floor in the corner of the garage . At 11 p.m. he saw  the prisoner and told him he was making enquiries respecting the overcoat and gloves . Prisoner said ” I took the overcoat and have since returned it . The reason I did it was that mine was wet through . I didn’t steal it .” Witness asked him what he had done  with the gloves , and prisoner replied ” I never had them”

Witness arrested him and conveyed him to Hoddesdon Police Station , where prisoner on being charged, said ” I only burrowed the coat ; and I didn’t have the gloves . ” The gloves had not yet been recovered .

Prisoner had a number of convictions for larceny , and in sentencing him to six months’ hard labour , the Chairman said Humberstone had a terrible record of crime.

 

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