The Identification of Crepe-Rubber Sole Impressions
| Author | H. C. Speller |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4902200405 |
| Published date | 01 October 1949 |
| Date | 01 October 1949 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The Identification of Crepe-Rubber
Sale Impressions
By DETECTIVE-SERGEANT H. C.
SPELLER
Berkshire
Constabulary
MOST Investigating Officers have been fortunate enough during
their careers as policemen to bring ahousebreaker before a court
because of the neglect on the part of the felon to remember that he
possessed feet as well as hands. By this I mean that nowadays the
practice of wearing gloves by those engaged in nefarious enterprises is
becoming increasingly common, thereby reducing proportionately the
possibilities of their detection, much to the disappointment of the many
zealous police officers investigating crimes. But every such delinquent
has to use his feet eventually at the scene of his crime; no matter whether
he travels by air, train, car or bicycle to the district of his activity, he
has to enter abuilding and move about inside it and here he finds his
feet most useful! Naturally these feet, or should we say, whatever he
is wearing on his feet, leave impressions. Numerous are the instances
where the prints left by rubber moulded soles and heels have proved
disastrous to the perpetrator of a "
breaking"
offence,
but
this article
sets out briefly the story of how an " office
breaker"
was caught and
convicted mainly because he left at the scene of one of his crimes a good
impression of the crepe-rubber sole of his left shoe.
This
case has been
discussed by the writer with detective officers of high rank and long
experience and it seems that this is one of the extremely rare occasions,
if not the only known instance, of a
crepe
sole impression being identified,
and it is hoped that readers of this article may be encouraged in the
future should they meet a similar set of circumstances.
The
story commences with a series of garage-breakings and
larcenies of motor vehicles which occurred on the Bath Road between
Reading and Newbury during October and the early part of November,
1948.
Police officers investigating these crimes noticed
that
a vehicle
had been taken in each case from Newbury, and often a motor-car
stolen from a garage, or from outside a house, near Reading, was
found abandoned at Newbury.
These
offences usually occurred at
week-ends.
During the night of Saturday and Sunday, 23rd/24th October,
1948, the office at a petrol filling station at Calcot, 3 miles west of
Reading, was entered by forcing the door with an iron bar, and an
attempt had been made to remove a safe in an adjoining office without
success. Cash and cigarettes to the value of £93 were stolen, and when
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