NICKING MILK? HOW DAIRY?

November 17th - 1939

Believe it or not, this case was reported as a stand-alone feature, not just a mention in the regular "Police Courts" column of the Grantham Journal.

Walter Ashford, of 50 North Parade Grantham, was a clerk with the Inland Revenue. Originally from London, he'd moved to Grantham ten years before, being described as a former soldier.

When milk bottles began to disappear from other addresses in North Parade, one can only imagine the grip of fear that must have descended upon the population. As appears to have been the custom with anything that required investigation, a detective was set on the case. In this matter, the sleuth in question was none other than Detective Officer James Bramhall.

As is often the case, we don't know exactly how my great grandfather managed to piece together all the queues, but we do know that he got his man. Under interrogation, not only did Walter admit to having pinched milk for some time from his poor neighbours, but had also been pilfering pencils, papers, ink and other stationary. He'd even been taking these to a local newsagents - W.G.Harrison - under the tale that he'd been in business and was selling off the stock.

Upon being charged, he said "That is quite correct. I don't dispute it". (Criminals just aren't this polite anymore!). The top detective told the court that he'd admitted to stealing another three bottles of milk, and that these ought to be taken into consideration.

"There is no doubt that this man has been living far beyond his means", said my great grandfather. I assume that there was more to that comment than one man having five bottles of milk, but they were different times!

"I was driven to it by desperation and the sickness of my wife", Ashford begged, apologising for the depths of his criminal fall.

We can assume that the police didn't buy his contrition, as the magistrates mentioned that despite the representations they had made, they were going to be lenient on the lactose loving larcenist. He was told to "pull himself together" and "let those mean little thefts cease".

Defendant was bound over for two years.

#theft #detective #milk #1939

IN OTHER NEWS: Mrs J.A. Campbell hoped to send 20,000 smokes to the Tommies

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