To return to Charles Lionel Reis click here.
|
Two Articles
from The Times Concerning Stolen Jewelry Article No 1. CHARGE AGAINST EX-DETECTIVE At Glasgow on Saturday JOHN THOMAS TRENCH formerly detective superintendent in the Glasgow Police Force, and now described as sergeant of the 5th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers. JOHN McARTHUR and DAVID COOK writer, Glasgow, were charged with having received stolen goods to the value of £534. Two charges of receiving jewelry to the value of £800 and £776 respectively were also preferred against McArthur who failed to appear. Trench and Cook pleaded “Not
Guilty.” and were remitted to the High Court at Edinburgh, where they will
be tried on August 17 |
|
Article, No 2. The Times August, 18, 1915, Page 3, Col d. CHARGE OF RECEIVING In the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh yesterday the Lord Justice Clerk (Lord Scott Dickson) and a jury were engaged on the trial of David Cook, solicitor, of Glasgow, and John Thomson Trench, an ex-detective officer of the Glasgow police, now a sergeant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers, on indictments charging them that they did “reset” or receive certain articles of jewelry knowing them to have been stolen. A dealer named John McArthur, of Crown Street, Glasgow, was also charged with receiving. He, however, failed to appear, and on the motion of the Solicitor-General a sentence of outlawry and the forfeiture of his bail bond was pronounced. The trial of the two other defendants resulted in a verdict of Not Guilty. The indictment contained three counts, the first of
which charged the two just named defendants with having on January 19, 1914,
received over 1,200 articles of jewelry, of the aggregate value of £531.
The second and third counts referred only to McArthur. A declaration made by Trench after his arrest was read in which he said that he was entrusted with the police inquiry into the burglary. He had known McArthur for about 14 years as a dealer in jewelry. He was looked upon with suspicion by the police, but the witness was not aware of his having been convicted. He asked McArthur if he could assist him in tracing the thieves, and McArthur promised to let him know if he heard anything. Subsequently the circumstances were explained to Cook at his office, and Cook said he could see nothing to prevent him as a law agent assisting in bringing about the return of the jewelry. A meeting with McArthur took place in a publichouse. The witness left Cook and McArthur alone, and later the same night Cook told him that the stuff had been recovered. He received no reward from the Insurance company. Cook, in his declaration, said that when Trench called at his office, he asked Trench if he was doing this off his own bat, and Trench replied that the Chief Constable knew about it and that the representative of the insurance company had agreed to give a reward of £400 for the stuff. Trench led him to believe that the reason for his being called in was that a deadlock had occurred in the handing over of the goods. A large number of other witnesses, chiefly officials, were called, including the Chief Constable, who said that on January 19 he saw Trench and the representative of the insurance company. Trench said that a person had told him he could get recovery of the stolen property, and that he had introduced that person to the insurance representative. There was a question of rewarding this person, but the witness told them that it was not legal to treat with thieves for the recovery of stolen property. He told Trench to have nothing more to do with the matter and gave him instructions to that effect. On the conclusion of the evidence, counsel for Cook asked the Judge to direct that there was no evidence to go to the jury, and the LORD JUSTICE CLERK held that there was no law that would justify the jury in coming to the conclusion that there was a “reset" in the circumstances discussed. The jury accordingly returned a verdict of Not Guilty. |