HAMPSHIRE LENT ASSIZES
TRIALS OF PRISONERS.
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George Robinson, 24, was indicted for stealing a cow, value £7, the property of Mr. George Woods, at Headley, on the 30th of December. Mr. Poulden prosecuted. It appeared that the prisoner was at Petersfield Market with the cow, where he offered it for sale. Mr. Stacey, a butcher, bought the animal, but did not immediately pay for it, having some suspicion that the prisoner was not in honest possession of it, and he for that reason sent for the police. The prisoner said the cow belonged to his father. Mr. Stacey kept the prisoner waiting by telling him he had a check, and must stop till the bank was open, and in the meantime asked some persons coming from the place where the prisoner said he lived, but they knew nothing of him. The prisoner then said the cow was his master’s, a Mr. Bennett, a farmer, of Blackmoor. He was given into custody, and then told the police that he had forgotten his master’s name, as he had only been in his service a fortnight. The cow was detained, and the prisoner locked up, and the owner of the cow was afterwards discovered to be Mr. Woods, the prosecutor, who had lost her. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and a previous conviction having been proved against him, he was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude.
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Frederick Stevens, 60, pleaded guilty of having embezzled money, the property of his master, Mr. Robert Crafts, at Petersfield, on Christmas Day last, and was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour.