WHEN BURGLARS RETIRE

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LII, Issue 37, 8 May 1931, Page 5

WHEN BURGLARS RETIRE

INVESTMENTS IN "COMPANY."

"HONEST" AND EASY OLD AGE.

Something new in "crooks" has made his appearance in England. He is the man who takes to burglary as the easiest possible way of making money, with the intention of "retiring" and "living honestly" when he has made sufficient. A number of these burglars have formed a special "company" in which the proceeds of robberies can be invested, and a certain profit can be made on the money, whUe, possibly, the thief is in prison. By the time he reaches 50 even a burglar in a small way can retire and Uve comfortably. Recently a man was put in prison for a £500 robbery. The proceeds of the crime were never found. When questioned he refused to say a word. But in an unguarded moment he revealed to a man he thought was a friend that he had sold what he stole for £300, and he had then "invested it in our company." Growing more expansive, the burglar said: — "It is quite simple. You see, a number of us are working together. We turn whatever we steal into money, and pay it over to a secretary, who enters it in his book. The money is then invested through a stockbroker. I am in prison for three months. When I come out I shall look round for another 'job. With average luck it wUI be a year or two before I am caught again, and by that time I shaU have put away a lot more money. "Now, in 10 years, although my sentences wUI be increasing, I shall have invested through our 'company' a large sum, and certainly within 15 years I shall have enough on which to retire and live an honest life. I have no desire to be a, criminal, but, with many others, I have found that I shaU be able to retire young and live happily in comparative richness." The head of this "company" is probably an otherwise respectable business man, says a London newspaper, for there is nothing to connect him with crooked business. He obtains a fat commission on aU the transactions which he carries out.