QSR1848/1/5/35

Depositions and examination - William Dilley charged with stealing one wether teg sheep (value £1) from John Pestell at Meppershall on 14 December 1847

16 December 1847

From: 1847 To: 1848

John Pestell of Meppershall, farmer – on Tuesday 14 Dec his shepherd informed him a wether teg sheep was lost. That evening his shepherd brought home a sheep skin with his brand on it (now produced). Next day he delivered it to PC Hazard. He was present when the policeman compared some meat with the skin. It patterned exactly where the legs were cut off. Thomas Gray of Meppershall, labourer – he is shepherd to Pestell. On Monday evening he left 142 sheep in a turnip pen in Mr Pestell’s field. Next morning one was missing. He saw the tracks of one man which he followed for about 20 poles where he went on to grass land. He followed the tracks there. Before seeing the tracks he had found a sheep skin in the ditch which he took home to his master. Daniel Hazard, police constable – he went with Pestell to the open field where the sheep were. He saw some footmarks over a ditch. He thought he knew the shape of them and went to Dilley’s house. He searched and found one leg of mutton tied up in a bag behind the bedstead rolled up in the bed curtains. Another leg was tied up in a cloth and hung at the back of the bed’s head. In another bag he found several pieces of mutton. There was a box over the bag to hide it. He found more mutton in a drawer in the bedroom covered with cloths. He went to Campton and took Dilley into custody. Dilley said “I suppose they’ll transport me but I found the mutton in Mr Pestell’s pightle by Meppershall Hoo and took it home and cut it into pieces”. He received the skin from Mr Pestell and compared it with the meat. The way the legs were cut off corresponded. Henry Ison Jebbett, police constable – he has examined the skin and the meat and is sure the legs were cut form this skin. They were not cut by a butcher. The meat is perfectly sound and the animal from which it was taken was slaughtered. The throat of the sheep was cut and not stuck in the usual manner. William Dilley – he found the meat against a willow tree in the Hoo Pightle. He knows nothing about the sheep’s death. It could have been thrown away fro the dogs. He had not been down that way since harvest, but he heard some boys say Pestell had got a sheep dead down at the Hoo Pightle so he went to look and see if he could eat any of it. The shoulders, the kidneys and the flank bits were all cut off.

item

Dilley, William,
Pestell, John,
Gray, Thomas,
Hazard, Daniel,
Jebbett, Henry Ison

MEPPERSHALL, Meppershall fields, stealing animals, sheep, farmer, police constable, shepherd