The Long Arm of the Law
| Date | 01 April 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5602900212 |
| Published date | 01 April 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
140
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
Forfetture.s-Ot: being convicted of an offence in connection with
selling, etc., the court may order that any literature, any plate or
photographic film prepared for printing copies shall be forfeited,
but
the order shall not take effect until the expiration
of
days of grace
within which notice of appeal may be given or application for a case
to be stated or where such has been entered into, until the appeal is
abandoned or decided. (S.3.)
Importation.-The
importation of this type of literature, plates or
films used for that purpose is prohibited. (S.4.)
(Plate except where it occurs in the expression "photographic plate"
includes block, mould, matrix, stencil. Photographic film includes
photographic plate.)
Finally it will be seen that no offence is committed by a person
reading this type of literature; the provisions of the Act are aimed at
stopping the source of supply, i.e. importers, wholesalers, retailers
and
printers.
The Long Arm
of
the Law
By SERGEANT WILLIAM WOOD,
Kent County Constabulary.
IT is often said that the law has a very long arm, how long we are
apt to forget. Often we read of a man being traced years after he
committed the offence. During apoliceman's career he must take down
in writing thousands of descriptions of 'wanted' persons
and
stolen
property, including the ever-present stolen motor vehicle. After a
short while it is really odds
of
thousands to one whether he remembers
the description unless'there is something in it to jog his memory
should the likeness
turn
up.
Surely the case which I am about to relate is the longest arm
of
the law there ever has
been-certainly
it had most of us baffled
and
not least the culprit.
Between the 29th October 1954
and
the 1st November 1954 a
quantity of tools and various articles of clothing, including a
pair
of rubber boots, were stolen from two temporary huts on a building
site at Benenden, Kent. At that time a Denis Wilkes was living in a
caravan at Biddenden, about
It
miles from the scene
of
the offence,
with Ronald Spice, his wife, their two children
and
another woman.
On the lst November 1954 Wilkes was seen at the caravan and found
to be wearing a pair of rubber boots which were identical with the
missing pair. The caravan was searched and several other articles of
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