QSR1843/1/5/49

Depositions and examination - John Yates, charged with stealing one ewe sheep from Henry Goude of Dunstable

22 December 1842

From: 1842 To: 1843

Joseph Garrett of Dunstable - he is shepherd to Mr Henry Goude of Dunstable. He looks after one of his flocks which is kept at Kensworth. There were 138 sheep in the flock, part of them ewes and part wethers. They were folded on turnips in a field called Nineteen Acres. He saw them all safe in the fold about 4.30pm last Tuesday. The next morning when he went to the fold the hurdles were not as he left them. At one corner they were nearly down and one of the turnip troughs was thrown over. He put the corn into the troughs for the sheep. They all came forward which surprised him, as one which seemed to be going "giddy" used not to come forward with the others. He counted the sheep over 5 times and always found them one short, which he knew to be the one that was going "giddy". He traced a man's footsteps from the fold across the turnip field to Mr Gutteridge's wheat field, adjoining one in which John Tutte later delivered to him a sheep's skin. The skin and head now produced belong to the stolen sheep - he knew it well as he had to fetch her up to the trough to feed. The value of the sheep was 20s. John Tutte, police constable - he went to the fold on Wednesday last. He traced the footsteps of a man from the fold across the turnip field into a wheat field belonging to Mr Gutteridge and to the middle of the adjoining field. There he found the head, skin, 3 feet and the entrails of a sheep among the turnips. He called Mr Goude and his shepherd and they both identified the head of the sheep as being that which had been stolen. The same day he obtained a search warrant and searched John Yates' house at Dunstable. Yates was at home eating mutton for supper. He found a shoulder of mutton and 2 legs. He asked Yates if the mutton was his. He said it was and that he had bought it off a shepherd and that he was to pay 1s 6d and a pot of beer for it on Saturday night. He would not tell who the shepherd was. He took him into custody. He asked Yates if he had a knife. Yates said it was on the mantle shelf. The knife had blood and grease about it. He found a quantity of blood on the right leg of Yates' breeches. He has compared the mutton found at Yates' house with the skin and feet found in the turnip field and they exactly correspond. Accompanied by police constable Crouch he went that morning and compared the boots Yates had on with the foot marks at the fold and across the fields to the place where he found the skin and entrails and they exactly fitted. John Yates of Dunstable, labourer - he has nothing to say, but he bought it and was to pay for it on Saturday night, 18 pence. He bought it in the market. He cannot tell the shepherd's name, but they called him "Jemmy".

item

Yates, John,
Goude, Henry,
Garrett, Joseph,
Tutte, John

DUNSTABLE, KENSWORTH, Kensworth fields, stealing animals, sheep, shepherd, turnips