£5000 THEFT CHARGES

Chronicle (Levin), 23 May 1946, Page 2

£5000 THEFT CHARGES

It.A.A.F. FROPERTY INVOLVED Twelve past and present members of the R.A.A-F. were charged at Port Melbourne Court with having stolen or received R.A.A.F. property valued at approximately £5000, says the Sydney Sun. James Lindsay Hopkins, aged 28, formerly L.A.C. in R.A.A.F. and Cpl. Wilfred John Vickery-, aged 39, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment. Charles Hosking, formerly of the R.A.A.F., was sentenced to three months imprisonment and fined £5. Hopkins was charged with having, between March 1 and Mareh 27, stolen sheeting and other articles, -valued at £1986 from the R.A.A.F. Stores Depot at Port Melbourne. Vickery, was charged with having stolen bales of suitings valued at £1912. Hosking was charged with having received sheeting and mosquito netting valued at approximately £120 and having stolen cutiery worth 10s. Notice of.appeal was lodged. Detective H. A. McKnight said that on March 28 Hopkins admitted the theft and said he took several bales of sheeting on an Air Force truck to premises in South Melbourne at Preston, where he got £49. Detective McKnight s^id'that Vickery also admitted the. theft. He had badly needed the money to meet expenses incurred ..by his wife's illness, he said. L.A.C. Ronald James Ryan, of Coburg, was charged with having stolen sheeting and other articles valued at £83. Police allqged- that Ryan admitted the theft. _ /Cpl. Bruce McNicholl Jones, of Bendigo, was fined £10 for having stolen R.A.A.F. .preperty valued ,_at. JB20. Cpl. Thomas Henry Jury, charged with having stolen sheeting and shoes valued at' £701 was convicted and released on a bond of £100 with a similar sec'urity to be of good behaviour for two years,