ELUSIVE BURGLAR.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 300, 3 December 1936, Page 3

ELUSIVE BURGLAR.

~*>FL«NHCL FOOl." AGAIN.

SCOTLAND YARD DEFIED.

. Every detective in the Metropolitan Police 18-Worthing for “Fiannel-foot” the Wat' elusive ’ arid audacious burglar Britain has ever known, states a London journal just to hand, Although be has been “working” for 20 years,, and has literally thousands of crfiries to his "credit, the police have Kh>Ver, tit Is believed, 1 been able to I putt him dn the dock. Scotland yard crime chiefs met recehtly arid discussed far-reaching plans to" bririg “Flannel-foot”' to jus>- ' "As-a result of the conference there has begun the greatest burglar ’hunt London has ever known. “Flannel-foot” gained his name beeause’ he encases his boots in flannel j ’stripe to deaden the noise of his move* mants. These strips he invariably 'leaves behind him ‘ in the ransacked Xdhoiher of :his .characteristics is to tike a summer holiday every year, and the police believe that during thia tithe l he i atterids : race meetings. Last ■sJuhe' heft&ng 'up the police and said swas <going on holiday, adding: "You-need not worry until I return.” £ately he ! returned arid Scotland Yard’s worries began, for “Flannel- - foot”/started work with seven burJglAries in Wealdstone and two in XJHfcnfbid. New hbiising estates on theoutskirts bf London are “Flannelrfoftt’s”' 'happy hunting ground, and he •eldom enters fewer than six or seven houses in a night. thief, he robs only houses thfttLare ■easy to center, and almost invariably at about three o’clock in 'the morning. Another characteristic hiaybe from Sabbatarian rea- . sons,»he never operates on Sunday /Without exception he takes articles fthU’UTi'easy to dispose Of and as a srala ; he'"prefers cash. ’ Another of his ."habits’’is."to- steal a bicycle, by means of which he. rides to the nearest rail- ’ way ktatidn or ’ tram route. There ha abandons the bicycle and goes home by t**tn or: rail. .tWiere-.his home is Scotland Yard' has never been able to discover, in < spite 20 years of patient inAiaitigation. ’ . ‘TWnel-foot’s”! methods are simple in the extreme, but baffling by their yery ..simplicity. His usual way of entry to a house, if he cannot find an open window, is by turning the key Qh.theinside of a door with a pair •of pliers. Another of his methods is to slip back the catch of a window with a knife. finger-prints iSti behind. f It’ is believed i thatHte wears-gloves. But the cnriotis thing is that, alI though Scotland Yard recognises a ‘■Flannel-foot” burglary as dearly as though he had left his visiting card, 1 the ice -cannot capture him.