QSR1853/4/5/3

Depositions of John Dodman, shopkeeper of Potton, Samuel Wallis, police constable of Potton and Mary Ann Atkinson, an infant. In the case of Thomas Sheppard accused of stealing a half sovereign and half crown.

25 July 1853

From: 1853 To: 1853

John Dodman: a shopkeeper of Potton. On 21 July he put some money in a drawer close to the living room, intending to put it in the cash box before he went to bed. He forgot to put it in the cash box but saw it safe there on 22 July. When he went to the drawer on 23 July, some of the money had been taken out. He had put into the drawer; 2 halves of a Bank of England Five pound note, 3 half sovereigns, a florin, a half crown, 7 shillings and a sixpence. On the 23 he missed one half of the note, a half sovereign and the half crown. Any person standing at the door of the room could open the drawer as it had no lock on it. He did not usually keep money in the drawer. He had seen the prisoner in his shop. Mary Ann Atkinson: a servant to Mr Dodman. The prisoner came to Mr Dodman’s house a little before 7 on the morning of 23 July. Her mistress was not yet in the shop so she took him to wait in a passage and went upstairs to call her mistress. She heard paper rustle when she was coming back down and the prisoner was standing inside the living room close to the drawer. He walked into the yard and waited there. Samuel Wallis: he apprehended the prisoner and searched him. In his waistcoat pocket he found half a five pound bank note. In his trousers, a half crown and in his boot a half sovereign. The number and date of the note compares to the other half still in Mr Dodman’s possession. Statement of the accused: he did not wish to say anything.

item

Sheppard, Thomas,
Dodman, John,
Wallis, Samuel,
Atkinson, Mary Ann

POTTON, stealing, coins, shoemaker, shopkeeper