Young Ruffian Doesn’t Count His Loot

In 1959 Dartmouth Magistrates visited tough love on a ten-year old boy accused of stealing ten pounds, some plaster, a pocket watch and a pocket-knife.

The young boy was caught on the Embankment and admitted taking some of the items from a house, and seemed to be rather blaze about the whole thing – asked how much money he had taken he replied ‘well, I didn’t count it did I?’

He got into a house in town when he found a key on a nail hanging in the loo outside.

He let himself in, took the items and went for a day out in Paignton on the cash.

He was arrested on returning as he walked up the Embankment on his way home. His pockets were full of crumpled notes and the police found this suspicious in one so young.

Coming to court the young boy was put on three years probation. His mother was told to pay the 15/- costs, but was told ‘to take it from his pocket money’.

You get the sense this was a boy often in trouble, as he asked two other offences, the theft of some cigarettes and some sweets, into consideration.

 

How Babysham Caused The Not Very Mysterious Mystery of the Submerged Minivan

 

An interesting night for two visiting sailors ended them up in court in 1971.

The two seamen with HMS Berwick got drunk at the Royal Oak Pub – seemingly full of good spirits.

When closing time came, however, they decided the drinking should not stop and broke into the back of the pub and stole ‘beer and babysham’.

To ensure that they had ticked as many ‘law-breaking’ boxes as possible, they then stole a mini traveller and drove it onto the Lower Ferry slip, where it was submerged by the waves.  It seems they thought they might go to Torquay to continue their festivities.

The car had been left in Oxford Street – showing the more trusting times in the 1970s – unlocked, with the keys ‘in position’ – by which we have to assume they meant ‘the ignition’.

The magistrates chairman told the two men ‘your night out is going to prove a most expensive one but we hope it will teach you to live and adult life and respect other people’s property’.

The two men were fined £420 – around £8,000 in 2010.

 

The Greatest Crime in Dartmouth’s History

In 1974 a crime of terrible scale caused shock and outrage around the town.

The Chronicle reported the terrible details: ‘Members of Dartmouth Harbour Commission gasped in horror on Monday when the harbourmaster Capt J Penney, told them that someone painting a boat on the beach at Bayards Cove had rubbed out their paint brushes on the quay wall.

“The wall is daubed in blue and white,” he said. “This is a dastardly thing to do.”

The Chronicle did not stint on the shocking details: ‘It was a handy little beach there and quite a number of boats were put there for painting. He had an idea who had been responsible and would make further enquiries.

‘Cllr Miss Brenda Breakwell found it difficult to understand why one of the Bayard’s Cove residents had not seen it happen, or knew who had been responsible.

‘The clerk, Mr Harold Swift, pointed out that the beach was tucked away in a corner and the wall was 12 ft high. A person working there would not normally be seen.

‘Mr T Williams added they needed to keep a careful watch on the north Embankment scrubbing grid. The same sort of thing was happening there.’

Too Much Tarmac Shocker

In 1970 residents of Cross Parks were dismayed to find that the road improvements they had helped pay for – with the not insubstantial contribution of £220 (or £5,000 in today’s prices) each – stopped them from opening their garage doors.

The residents had asked the borough council to tarmac their unadopted road – and had been told as the council did not HAVE to do so they would have to pay, which they agreed to do.

However, after the workmen had finished, the results were not as the home owners would have hoped.

The road level had been raised, after addition of a permanent tarmac road, by more than a foot in some places. Many found they couldn’t get the doors of their garages open – a couple reportedly had cars inside whilst the work went on, so goodness knows what they did.

Cllr Eric Cook claimed the problems had been caused by the garages not being built ‘as they should be in the first place’.

Mrs Ida Johns, one of the residents ‘tricked’ according to the Chronicle report in the Jan 23 edition, retorted: ‘they were built in 1913 when there was only one other house there. Why would anyone claim the garages were in the wrong place? It seems so unjust.’

She was still angry in March, two months after she had complained to the Borough council, telling the Works Committee in a letter she ‘would never trust you again’ and warned them ‘a black mark’ had gone against them and it ‘would remain so for as long as you have a conscience’.