QSR1894/4/5/7,8,9/b

Depositions of Stephen Woods, police constable of Turvey and John Cox, labourer of Stevington. In the case of John Billing, Francis Jefferies and Jesse Bates, accused of stealing 2 coats.

15 October 1894

From: 1894 To: 1894

Stephen Woods: police constable stationed at Turvey. On 12th October he went to Stevington in consequence of information received. He went in search of 3 prisoners and found them on Newport Pagnell Road, Bromham. He charged the prisoners, Jefferies and Billing, with absconding from Beds Reformatory. The prisoners confessed that they had run away that morning. The prisoner, Bates, started to walk away, but the prisoner, Billing, called him back. At the police station he charged the prisoner, Jefferies, with having stolen the jacket he was wearing from a man who had been ploughing at Stevington. The prisoner, Jefferies replied that he had gone through a hedge and fetched the jacket. He asked the prisoner, Jefferies, if he also had a new slop and a boy’s slop. The prisoner, Jefferies, replied that he had. The prisoner, Bates, said that Jefferies had given him the two slops and that he had put them on. He asked the prisoner, Billing, if he was wearing the slop which Jefferies had stolen from the field. The prisoner, Billing, replied that he was. He then asked the prisoners if they had cut a hole in the hedge. The prisoner, Jefferies, replied that all 3 men had cut the hedge. John Cox: labourer living in Stevington. He was employed by Mr. William Robinson as a housekeeper. On Friday 12th October he was at work in a field called ‘Gravel Pit’ in the parish of Stevington. About 9am he placed 2 jackets by the side of the field, about 7 yards from the hedge. About 12.30pm, from information he received he went to where he had left his jackets. He found that both jackets were missing. He informed police constable Woods. A hole in the hedge had been cut near where the jackets had been put. Francis Jefferies: Nothing to say. John Billing: Nothing to say. Jesse Bates: Nothing to say.

item

Woods, Stephen,
Cox, John,
Jefferies, Francis,
Billing, John,
Bates, Jesse

STEVINGTON, TURVEY, police constable, labourer, stealing, clothing