An Interesting Scientific Case
| Author | N. W. Goodchild |
| Published date | 01 October 1939 |
| Date | 01 October 1939 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X3901200417 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
An
Interesting Scientific Case
By
SUPERINTENDENT
N.
W.
GOODCHILD
Oxford City Police
A
RECENT
case of school breaking at Oxford illustrates
again how useful the laboratory can be to
the
detective and
affords an excellent example of the completeness of the
evidence which scientific aids can sometimes produce.
The
caretaker of a large secondary school in
the
city
arrived at
the
school at 6 a.m. on the zoth January and found
that
during the night the premises had been broken into.
The
school is approached via a lane and is surrounded on three
sides by the playing fields. Around the buildings are a
number
of flower beds in which sand had been mixed with
the
original
heavy clay soil.
The
window of a lavatory had been levered from its
hinges and was lying on the ground. Inside
the
school offices
a safe had been carried away from a room at the front and was
found in a vestibule with the back ripped off.
The
sum
of
seven pounds, made up of five
£1
notes, silver and copper,
had been stolen.
The
caretaker telephoned to the Central Police Station,
and whilst detective officers went to the school other officers
made asearch of
the
city for possible suspects. One officer
found two men waiting in the coach station.
They
had no
luggage and said
that
they were waiting for a coach to London,
having come to Oxford to visit a friend.
The
officer was not
satisfied with their replies to his questions and detained them.
Between
them
they had a little over seven pounds in money,
including five
£1
notes.
They
gave a vague account of their
movements during
the
night, and this was obviously false
although they adhered to
the
story. One of
them
had a cheap
torch without abattery. Later a set of housebreaking tools,
including powerful jemmies, was found in a field adjoining
the
school,
but
whilst one of the jemmies fitted the marks on the
5°4
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