QSR1840/1/5/20/a

Deposition of Robert Carr against Thomas Vincent

27 November 1839

From: 1839 To: 1840

He is manager of his mother's farm at Flitwick. Her name is Rebecca Carr and she is a widow. On Saturday night she had some sheep ewes and shearhogs in a field in Flitwick called Moorside. About 9am on Sunday morning he went to the field and saw a ewe and a shearhog with their throats cut. No part of the first sheep - a poor ewe - was gone. The hindleg and part of the loin of the shearhog were gone. He noted some particular footmarks between the two sheep, which he later pointed out to Mr Greene, constable of Ampthill - they had particularly large nails. There were footsteps of one other man with much smaller nails. Many people came to the field including Vincent and he was noticing the footmarks. He observed that Vincent kept on the grass, but when he did eventually make a footprint it was the same as those he had noted. James Mitchell also saw it, and the prisoner who said "that's my shoe (or my foot) but I know it wasn't me". He had Vincent taken into custody. He went to his house and Vincent was asked to produce the shoes he wore the night before - he produced a pair of high shoes. Vincent was asked if he wore the smock frock he then had on the night before - he said he wore a shooting jacket and produced it. The front of it was wet and it had flecks of wool and marks of blood on it. The shoes and jacket are those now produced by Abbis. He and Greene went back to the field with the shoes and they fitted the footmarks exactly - the near foot shoe was missing two nails, and the two shoes are nailed differently in the heel. They did not find any meat in Vincent's house. He pointed out the footmarks to Mitchell before Vincent came into the field. He is sure that Vincent did not go over any of the places where the footmarks were made. Although the prisoner says he went across the field from the corner nearest his house to his friend and others, that was not the direction in which he saw the footmarks, which were in the opposite corner of the field [diagram].

item

Vincent, Thomas,
Carr, Robert,
Carr, Rebecca,
Greene,
Mitchell, James,
Abbis, Richard

FLITWICK, Flitwick Moorside, stealing, meat, sheep, shoes