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A NOTORIOUS SWINDLER.
Sarah Westwood, 30, a notorious “lady swindler,” was charged with stealing a pair of kid gloves, of the value of 1s, the property of Margaret Cocks, on the 13th December. Mr. Bullen (instructed by Mr. Cousins) prosecuted. The case for the prosecution being completed, the Town Clerk read the statement of the prisoner before the magistrates, which was now supplemented by a verbal statement made to the jury, who, however, after due deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty. She pleaded guilty to a previous conviction at Brighton. The Deputy-Recorder said that she had been found guilty of this offence, which, upon the face of it, seemed to be a small one. She had pleaded guilty of being convicted at Brighton sessions for stealing a towel and nightgown, and was then sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labour. He knew, also, that she was convicted at Hastings in 1859 for stealing a pocket handkerchief and a pair of scissors, and sentenced to three months’ hard labour. On the 26th February, 1860, she was convicted as a rogue and vagabond, and sentenced to one month’s hard labour. He knew that a charge was made against her in October, 1866, for obtaining six bottles of ale by false pretences, but then she was not convicted. In January, 1857, she was convicted on a charge of obtaining goods by false pretences, and she was sentenced to six months’ hard labour; and on the 14th October of last year she was convicted at the city of Winchester for a similar offence, getting goods by false pretences, and was then sentenced to fourteen days’ hard labour. His duty compelled him to inflict upon her a severe sentence. He should now sentence her to eighteen months’ hard labour.
— Hampshire Advertiser, Saturday 04 January 1868 source
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A “LADY” SWINDLER.—ONE MORE CHANCE.
Sarah Westwood, 30, single, was indicted for stealing a pair of kid gloves, value 1s., the property of Margaret Cocks, on the 13th of September.—Mr. Bullen prosecuted.
The prosecutrix lives with her mother at Oriel House, Southsea, and on the 13th of December, between seven and eight in the evening, the prisoner came to the house for lodgings. She had no luggage, and gave as her reason for having none that the Ryde boat had met with an accident, and she had come on by the Stokes Bay boat, but could not bring her luggage. The prisoner stopped at the house that night, and sat in the same room with the prosecutrix, who had a pair of black kid gloves in the room, which she saw there just before the prisoner came in. She missed them just before going to bed. When the prisoner came she had on (prosecutrix believed) a pair of black cloth gloves. She left the house on the following morning, between eleven and twelve, and came back for a short time, and went out again, but did not return. Prosecutrix met the prisoner on the following Monday morning, and said to her, “You have my gloves on.” She said she did not think they were hers, but if so she must have taken them by mistake, and offered them back to the prosecutrix, who, however, would not take them, and afterwards gave the prisoner into custody. The prisoner paid nothing for the lodgings.
P.S. Buxey (into whose custody the prisoner was given) said that on charging her with the offence, she said, “Very well,” and that she must have taken up the gloves by mistake. No money was found on her, but a cheque drawn by herself on the Hampshire Banking Company.
The prisoner’s statement when before the magistrates was, at her request, read, but there was nothing of importance in it, except that she must have taken up the gloves by mistake. She also accounted for her possession of the cheque by stating that she had gone to the Hampshire Banking Company to see if they had £50 she expected from Shrewsbury, but they had not. They said they might have it in a day or two, and gave her a blank cheque to fill up.
After the statement had been read the prisoner ex- pressed a wish to address the jury, which being granted, she asked them if it was probable that she should return to the house if she had taken the gloves? She did not endeavour to hide them, and if they were Miss Cocks’s, hers were at the house.
The Deputy-Recorder, in summing up, told the jury that if they thought the prisoner took the gloves intending to appropriate them to her own use they must find her guilty, but if they considered she took them by mistake they would, of course, find her not guilty.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and she pleaded guilty to a previous conviction for felony at the Brighton Quarter Sessions on the 17th of March, 1865.
The Deputy-Recorder said this offence seemed on the face of it a very small one, but she had pleaded guilty to a previous conviction on the 17th of March, 1865, when she was sentenced to 18 months’ hard labour for stealing a towel and a night gown. He also knew that on the 24th of November, 1859, she was convicted at Hastings of stealing a pocket handkerchief and a pair of scissors, and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment; on the 24th of February, 1860, she was convicted as a rogue and a vagabond, and sentenced to one months’ hard labour; on the 22nd of October, 1866, she was charged here with stealing a dozen bottles of ale, but was not convicted; on the 7th of January, 1867, she was convicted at Southampton of obtaining goods by false pretences, and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment; and on the 14th of October last she was convicted at Winchester of a similar offence, and sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment. It appeared from this that her career had been one of crime from 1859 to the present time; what it was before that he did not presume to know. The sentence must, therefore, necessarily be heavy; it was impossible to pass a light one. He would, however, give her one more chance, but if she went on in this way she would undoubtedly get a long term of penal servitude. He could not pass a sentence less than 18 months’ imprisonment with hard labour.
— Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette, Saturday 04 January 1868 source
| First name(s) | Sarah |
|---|---|
| Last name | Westwood |
| Year | 1868 |
| Session date | 03 Jan 1868 |
| Court | Portsmouth |
| Archive | The National Archives |
| Source | Home Office: Criminal Registers, England And Wales, 1805-1892 |
| Series | HO 27 |
| Documents | Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies |
| Piece | 151 |
| Piece scope | Southampton - Yorks and Welsh counties |
| Record set | England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935 |
| Category | Institutions & organisations |
| Subcategory | Prison Registers |
| Collections from | England, Great Britain, Wales |
| Archive reference | HO 27/151 |
| First name(s) | Sarah |
|---|---|
| Last name | Westwood |
| Birth year | 1838 |
| Age | 30 |
| Year | 1868 |
| Date | 03 Jan 1868 |
| Place | Dorset |
| Victim's first name(s) | Margaret |
| Victim's last name | Cocks |
| Series | HO 140 |
| Piece number | 2 |
| Source | A Calendar Of Prisoners Tried At The General Quarter Sessions Of The Peace |
| Record set | England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935 |
| Category | Institutions & organisations |
| Subcategory | Prison Registers |
| Collections from | Great Britain, UK None |
| Archive reference | HO 140/2 |
