THEFTS AT HAPPY VALLEY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 124, 23 February 1928, Page 8

THEFTS AT HAPPY VALLEY

THREE YOUTHS REMANDED FOR SENTENCE. William Bramhill and James Moores pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to three charges of stealing goods to the total value of £8 2s. B<L from a house in the Happy Valley district. George Albert Webb, who appeared with the two accused, admitted one charge of stealing goods to the total value of <£3 2s. 6d. Chief-Detective Ward said that he wished to withdraw an original charge of breaking and entering preferred against the accused and have them charged with theft instead. To this course Mr. E. Page, S.M., agreed. The chief-detective explained that for about ten days prior to their arrest the three accused, who were unemployed, had been living in a bach at Happy Valley. Baches in the vicinity had been entered and blankets and food stolen. The blankets, which had been recovered by the police, had been pawned, while the food had been eaten by the accused. Bramhill and Webb had been brought out from England as immigrants by the Salvation Army in 1925 and placed on a farm, where they had remained for some time. The Magistrate remanded the three accused until this morning for sentence so as the probation officer (Mr. T. P. Mills) could prepare a report.