South Yorkshire Times, July 14, 1951

Found £400 Hidden In Bedroom

Mexbro’ Woman Yielded to Temptation, Stole £120

A 24-year-old Mexborough mother, who worked as a daily help to get money to buy “extras” for her invalid husband and three-year old child, yielded to temptation when she found about £400 hidden in the bedroom of her employer’s home, it was stated at Doncaster West Riding Magistrates Court on Saturday.

The woman, Evelyn Hamon, of Morton Road, Mexborough, pleaded guilty to stealing £120 – in £1 notes, the property of Mrs. C. Slater, of Oliver Street, Mexborough. She was fined £5 and ordered to repay £120 at £1 a week.

Chief Inspector Schofield said that at the time of the alleged offence, Hamon was employed as a daily help by Mrs. Slater, wife of a miner, and proprietor of a grocery business which she carried on in the front room of the house.

He said Mrs. Slater and her husband had been saving up to buy a car, and hid the money under a book in the drawer of a bed-side table in their bedroom. The money was checked at Christmas and amounted to £340. The couple continued saving, and when Mrs. Slater again checked the money in June, she found there was only £240 instead of roughly £400, the Inspector continued.

The police were informed and Hamon, whose duties as daily help included cleaning the bedroom, where the money was hidden, was interviewed. She denied all knowledge of the matter but later said “I will tell you all about it. I want to get it off my mind.”

The Inspector said that in a statement, Hamon admitted that when dusting in the bedroom she accidently discovered where the money was, took £10, and when the theft was not questioned, gained a certain amount of “confidence” and took further sums on several occasions. Her husband was a semi-invalid with a £5 full pension from the Services and she was the mother of a three-year-old child.

She is a hard-working woman and has gone out to work for extras she thought her husband and child should have, Inspector Schofield continued.

There has been no complaint whatever regarding her work, and no complaint previously of her honesty.  Hamon said her husband had tried to borrow money to repay the amount but could not. Now she had got another job in a Sheffield factory.