The Times, London, 6 April 1933, p.11
Sentences in Camden Town case
Mr. Naylor, a garage proprietor, of Bristol, was on a business visit to London, when he was attacked outside a flat in Mornington Crescent, N.W., and robbed of £204. So serious were his injuries that for a time his life was despaired of.After extending over three days, the trial concluded at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before the Recorder (Sir Ernest Wild, K.C.), of CHARLES FORD, 30, salesman; JAMES GEORGE PUTTNAM, 24, trader; WILLIAM THOMAS TILLY, 22, mechanic; THOMAS BARBER, 32, clerk; and ALBERT EDWARD THOMPSON, 18, wireless mechanic, who were found Guilty of robbing Alexander Abraham Naylor of the sum of £204. Barber was also found Guilty of receiving £10, the money of Naylor, knowing it to have been stolen, and Tilly and Thompson both pleaded “Guilty” to this charge. Mr. Gerald Dodson and Mr. C.B. McClure prosecuted; Ford was defended by Mr. J.F. Eastwood and Mr. N. Tacey; Puttnam by Mr. F.G. Paterson and Mr. F.H. Collier; Tilly by Mr. Francis Peregrine; Barber by Prince L. Lieven; and Thompson by Mr. T.J. Kelly. Divisional Detective-Inspector Sands proved previous convictions against Ford, who, he said, was a member of a dangerous gang who put witnesses in fear of coming to Court. Puttnam had also previously been convicted. He associated with convicted thieves who preyed on drunken men, and he was a member of a dangerous gang of racecourse frequenters. Barber had a previous conviction. He got a living by frequenting racecourses. Tilly had one conviction, but the witness mentioned in his favour that 12 years ago, when he was 10 years of age, he jumped into the Regent Canal and saved a life. Thompson had no father, and for the last six months he had been running wild. The Recorder sentenced Ford to six years’ penal servitude with 18 strokes of the birch; Puttnam to five years’ penal servitude and 18 strokes of the birch; Barber to four years’ penal servitude and 18 strokes of the birch; Tilly to three years’ penal servitude and 18 strokes of the birch; and Thompson, who had been recommended to mercy by the jury, he sent to a Borstal institution for three years.The RECORDER, in passing sentence, said it was perfectly clear that the prisoners determined to follow Naylor and rob him. It was a mercy he did not die. An appalling feature of present-day crimes of lawlessness and violence, said the Recorder, was that they were almost all committed by young men. The judges of the land were determined that peaceful citizens should be protected. A taxicab driver named John Brooks was awarded £5 by the Recorder, who said it was largely owing to his public-spirited action that the prisoners were arrested.
