Three Months in Jail for Perjury S ENTENCE of three months'
Page 29
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
imprisonment in the second division was passed on a lorry driver who was tried at Leeds Assizes, last week, on a charge of perjury arising out of a journey-records prosecution. The accused, Mr. Harry Dransfield, pleaded guilty. His 16-year-old mate, Mr. Percy Herbert Swallow, who pleaded guilty to a similar offence, was bound over for 12 months.
Mr. G. Raymond Hinchcliffe, for the prosecution, stated that when summoned at Huddersfield West Riding Police Court, on a charge of failing to keep proper records, Mr. Dransfield said on oath that he had not delivered coal from the lorry on the date to which the summons referred, and that he was not working.on that day. Mr. Swallow corroborated this evidence. • The police, counsel continued, subsequently discovered that on the day in question Messrs. Dransfield and Swallow, who were employed by a coal merchant, had delivered a ton of coal to a woman.
• Dr. H. S. Houldsworth, for the defence, alleged that it was under pressure from their employer, who had been summoned for failing to cause the driving records to be properly kept, that the two defendants had told an untrue story.
Mr. Justice Lawrence said he was prepared to believe that some pressure had been exerted upon the prisoners. They were not prisoners in the ordinary sense, but they had committed a serious offence, and had trifled with the administration of justice.