15-month sentence for 'losing' whisky load
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• A Dagenham lorry driver who agreed to "lose" his lorry load of whisky, then later told police a false story of being hijacked by an armed gang. was jailed for 15 months at Hertfordshire Assizes.
Albert William Clark, 26, of Nuneaton Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of assisting in theft to avoid the apprehension of others. His plea of not guilty to theft was accepted by the prosecution.
Clark had been one of nine men facing charges, connected with an alleged lorry hijack "racket", but following changes of pleas and acquittals, only five defendants remained in the dock.
The court heard that in 1968, while he was employed by British Road Services, Clark falsely told the police that his lorry load of whisky had been hijacked by a gang armed with a shotgun.
Mr R. Hampton, defending, said Clark was motivated by fear. "He was afraid because he knew that others would do considerable harm to himself and his family. He is afraid to give names to the police even to this day", counsel added.
After legal submissions at the end of the prosecution case Michael West, 27, of Clapton, was found not guilty of handling stolen sweets; Samuel Montgomery, 29, of Islington, was found not guilty of handling stolen cigarettes and Herbert Alborough, of Bury St Edmunds, was given a suspended one-year prison sentence after changing his plea to guilty to handling a quantity of stolen oil heaters.
One of the remaining five defendants, Arthur Fairclough, 39, of Romford, now faces one charge of handling stolen cigarettes. The judge directed that he be found not guilty of handling the stolen whisky, cheese, butter and conspiring to handle stolen sweets.
Those still on trial were reduced to four when Peter Anderson, 27, of Newcastle upon Tyne, changed his plea to guilty on seven counts of handling and to conspiracy to handling stolen goods. His previous pleas of not guilty to six other charges of conspiracy to steal were accepted by the prosecution.
Anderson will be sentenced next week.