QSR1842/3/5/14

Depositions - David Punter

27 April 1842

From: 1842 To: 1842

William Coote of Flamstead (Herts), labourer - on Saturday 23 April he was at the Green Man at Markyate Street in Bedfordshire. John Mann was with him. They had something to eat and drink and at about 12pm (having been up nearly all night with cattle) they asked the landlady to allow them to go and lie down in the sable. She said they could not lie in the stable but might go into the loft. They went up to the loft by a ladder over the stable. He went to sleep and was woken by finding the prisoner's hand in his pocket. He got up, took hold of Punter, threw him down and held him while he felt in his pocket to see what he had lost. When he laid down he had 14 1/2d, and he now missed a shilling. He asked Punter where it was. Punter said "let me get up and I will tell you". Punter said it was lying by his side amongst the straw. Punter then went down the trap door to the stable. When he awoke feeling Punter's hand in his pocket he seized him by the breast of his frock. Punter's hand was in his breeches pocket then and he took it out. The shilling he had in his pocket was a new one. The shilling he picked up in the straw was a new one which he afterwards paid to Mrs Lucas. John Mann - he was in the hayloft with William Coote. He went to sleep and was woken by Coote pulling down the prisoner. Coote said to the prisoner "give me that shilling". Punter said he had not got it but if Coote would let him up he would tell him where it was. Coote let Punter up and Punter told him it was in the straw by his side. Coote found the shilling and Punter went down the trap door. They later told the prisoner's brother James Punter what he had done, and Punter said he had not been in the loft and never saw the shilling. They kept Punter in the house until the police took him into custody. The policeman asked where the shilling was and he got it from Mrs Lucas. Ann Lucas, wife of Joseph William Lucas - she gave Coote and Mann leave to sleep in her loft. A short time after they went up she saw David Punter go into the stable. There are 2 trap doors from the stable to the loft. Coote came down about 20 minutes after the boy went into the stable and told her Punter had robbed him of a shilling. She said she had seen Punter go into the stable and shut the door - Punter then denied going into the stable. William Coote and John Mann were both sober when they went to the loft. After the men came down William Coote paid her with a new shilling which she put in her purse. John Mann asked for the shilling and she gave her the only new one in her purse. Charles Walter of Markyate Street (Herts), constable of the Hertfordshire rural police - David Punter was given into his custody by William Coote. He received the shilling now produced from John Mann, which he said was the one taken out of Coote's pocket.

item

Punter, David,
Coote, William,
Mann, John,
Lucas, Ann,
Lucas, Joseph William,
Punter, James,
Walter, Charles

Flamstead, Markyate Street, pickpocket, Markyate Street Green Man