Supreme Court Man Took Parts Off Van He Stole And Hid

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30980, 9 February 1966, Page 6

Supreme Court Man Took Parts Off Van He Stole And Hid

A man who was out for a walk with his dog in Abberley crescent, St Albans, one day last September, inspected a shed at the back of a property with a "To Let” sign, and discovered a van in it, subsequently found to have been stolen.

Engine parts missing from the van were found in the possession of Clive Belmont Goodenough, it was alleged in the Supreme Court yesterday, when Goodenough, a 25-year-old service station attendant, stood trial before Mr Justice Wilson on a charge of the theft of the van, valued at £6OO, from the home of Harold Sidney Beaumont Wallis in Avonside drive on or about September 8.

Goodenough, defended by Mr E. O. Sullivan, pleaded not guilty. After a retirement of half an hour, the jury found him guilty. Robert Kenneth McAnergney, an engineer’s assistant, said that he pvas suspicious about the van he found parked in the Abberley crescent property and memorised its number. The next day he heard a police broadcast about it, saying it was missing.

Detective Constable T. K. Watkins gave evidence that inquiries led him to a workshop in Tuaih street, where men were engaged on building a special; racing car, engine parts for which had been supplied by; Goodenough—those parts the ones missing from Wallis’S van,

GoodenouglJ had said he had bought the parts by advertising in the •“Christchurch Star,” said Detective Constable Watkins, but asked who the sellers were, had said: “I don’t keep an inventory of everything I do.” A mechanic, Colin Harold Berrymaq, gave evidence of building a special racing car, and of Goodenough offering to supply engine parts. Berryman said he had driven Goodenough to the corner of Springfield road and Abberley crescent to collect the parts. Goodenough had got out at the corner, walked away up Abberley crescent, and returned soon after with a sack of parts. Four other witnesses gave evidence of seeing parts from the missing van at Tuam

street, and at a workshop in Stanley street, Sydenham, where Goodenough was. concerned with the building of the racing car. “It was not a very difficult decision to make,” said His Honour, when the jury had found Goodenough guilty. He remanded Goodenough in custody for sentence on Friday.