South Yorkshire Times, October 20th, 1951
Goldthorpe Man for Trial
Housebreaking at Darfield Alleged
Smart work by a detective officer and policewoman of Doncaster Borough police resulted in the apprehension of a Goldthorpe miner on two charges of housebreaking at Darfield, and his appearance before the Barnsley West Riding Magistrates on Friday.
Committed to Leeds Assizes to take his trial was Fred Ford, (21), miner of St Mary’s Road, Goldthorpe.
Giving evidence Lawrence Moore, 24, Hill Street, Darfield said that on September 26th he came downstairs early and found the kitchen window open. He checked his belongings and found that £8 19s 10d in cash, a brown purse, a small blue jar, ten cigarettes and a ladies wristlet watch were missing
Another Darfield resident, William Fisher of 3, Havelock Street, told the bench that when he went downstairs on September 26th, he found his kitchen window open and eight cigarettes were missing.
In the witness box, Det. Officer G. V. Edmonson said that at 7pm on September 26th he was on duty with a policewoman in High Street, Doncaster when he recognised and arrested Ford on some other matter. As he walked alongside Ford the Policewoman followed behind, and she noticed Ford take his hand from his pocket and try to drop something. She grabbed his hand and found he was secreting a ladies wristlet watch. When asked about the watch he said “It’s from a job at Darfield last night. I did two jobs there and got some money, cigs, a ring and other things.” Ford, when asked what had happened to the cash, said he had bought a suit for £8 and a shirt for 25s.
A W.R. Police Officer, Pc Murray stated that he saw Ford at Doncaster Police Office on September 27th, and when questioned about the house breaking at Darfield, Ford said “I’ve already made a statement. They were all done by me.” When asked about the stolen property, he said “I spent the money and threw the property in the garden.” Ford later took Pc Murray to a garden on Nanny Marr Road, Darfield and in the garden the Pc found the brown leather purse.
An appeal for bail by Ford was refused.