Life story of a burglar (1937)

CAUGHT IN THE ACT - GRANTHAM MAN SENT TO PRISON - FOR HOUSEBREAKING IN THE TOWN - Saturday January 9th 1937

An interesting tale this, particularly as there is a lot of information about the offender, his background, the context of his life and how debt, low-standards of living and some of the desperate measures he was taking to keep his family afloat all contributed to his lot in life.

Mr Victor Vale of Harrowby Lane, had suffered some thefts from his home when he left it. He had "employed" a new gardener, Mr Cragg (36), and suspicion had fallen on him. I use the term "employed", because it seems that Vale "paid" Cragg for his four to five hours work a week "in kind", using off cuts of meat or second hand clothes to pay for his services.

Detective Officer Bramhall used one of his tried and tested techniques, and squirreled himself away in the house while Mr Vale left it, and with one of the windows being left deliberately insecure, he waited until Cragg entered the house to look for something to steal before pouncing and arresting him. Under questioning, Cragg admitted that he had committed similar offences against Mr Vale on two occasions before.

In court, his solicitor gave his history and background. He had been out of work for some time, and was receiving an allowance under the government means test of 29s a week, and a further 5s for one of his sons.

He had joined the Machine Gun Corps in Grantham and sent to France during the first war, but had been discharged in 1916 when it was discovered that he was under age. Interestingly, my great grandfather was also in the Machine Gun Corps, and I wonder if he had known him earlier on. A month after being discharged, Cragg had rejoined the army as a drummer boy.

He had been married in 1919, and had a family of three sons, the eldest of which was 17. He had struggled with low paid work throughout his life, and had been fined in 1932 for stealing potatoes to eat, and having hid them by burying them in a grave. He had been discharged from his employment as low paid agricultural worker, and had been reliant on his "in kind" employment from Mr Vale since.

His solicitor made it clear that he had struggled to feed his family, and had found himself in debt. His creditors had started to press him very hard to pay his debts back, but he wasn't able to keep up with the payments, and therefore had turned to crime. At the point where he was at court, he had already spent one month on remand awaiting trial.

The Magistrate stated that he would have liked to have bound him over, but his sustained dishonesty, citing the potato theft to the recent three housebreakings, meant that this was not an option. He told Cragg that he had been thinking of sentencing him to six months hard labour, but that he was moved by his solicitor's plea for leniency, and therefore gave him three months hard labour. His final words were, "Let this be a warning and a lesson".

IN OTHER NEWS: NEW LINCOLNSHIRE BYPASS - Will see a by-pass for through traffic which will avoid Boston, Gosberton, Surfleet, Kirton and Spalding.

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