QSR1848/2/5/14

Depositions and examination - Valentine Foskett of Odell charged with stealing 4 bushels of barley value 12 from John Bonfield at Odell on 29 March 1848

31 March 1848

From: 1848 To: 1848

John Bonfield of Harrold, farmer – he occupies a farm at Little Odell. The homestead is in one of the fields. He had a quantity of threshed barley in the barn there. It was threshed on Tuesday and dressed on Wednesday. The barley produced by PC Samuel Hornal is not dressed and he is sure it is part of the barley which was in his barn on Tuesday. Comparing it with the dressed barley, they are obviously of the same kind – there are wild oats in both and the barley is large and partially discoloured. Foskett lives at a lone house in Odell field about a mile from his homestead. At about 6am on Wednesday morning he went to Goodman and Pettit who were working in the barn and Pettit told him some barley was missing. They both said the barn had been left all right the night before and was locked in the morning. Foskett occupies a small slip of ground by the road side near one of his fields. He believed Foskett grew beans there that year, and not barley. William Goodman of Odell, labourer – he was employed by Mr Bonfield and assisted in threshing the barley. On Tuesday evening they left the barley in the heap, the barn was locked and the key put in the usual place in the cupboard in the chaff house in the stable. Pettit was working with him and they left together. The next morning they met at the homestead together. The key was in its usual place. He unlocked the door. They saw the barley heap had been altered and Pettit asked Mr Bonfield whether he had taken any from the heap. Mr Bonfield said he had not. They then began to dress the barley. Foskett came to the barn about a fortnight before saying he wanted a job. They were then thrashing barley. Edmund Pettit of Odell, labourer – he works at Mr Bonfield’s farm. [Evidence as Goodman’s] Samuel Hornal of Harrold, police constable – he went to search Foskett’s house. Foskett was not at home but his wife was. She was unwilling for him to search. Upstairs in a bedroom he found a sack containing about 4 bushels of barley, with a small quantity of pollard and a small quantity of beans in a bag, about a peck. In the house below he found a sack containing about a bushel of barley flour. Foskett’s wife said they grew the barley on their land. He said that when he had searched the house 2 months before there was no barley then – she made no reply. He had previously sent for George Kendall, the parish constable of Odell, who had got a sample of Mr Bonfield’s dressed barley. He had no doubt they were part of the same bulk. On Wednesday Foskett was working at Chellington for Mrs Eyles and he went there to take him into custody. [Cross-examined by Foskett] When he searched Foskett’s house 2 months ago there was no barley in the straw there, nor any stack of it. Valentine Foskett of Odell – “the barley now produced was grown by me upon my land, and it is mine”.

item

Foskett, Valentine,
Bonfield, John,
Hornal, Samuel,
Goodman, William,
Pettit, Edmund,
Kendall, George,
Eyles

ODELL, HARROLD, CHELLINGTON, stealing, barley, farmer, farm labourer, threshing, police constable, parish constable