| Description | Depositions of Joseph Short railway cashier, John Metcalfe Pickering schoolboy, Robert Pickering schoolboy and John Kitching police constable, all of Bowes, and Thomas Mole of Greta Bridge inspector of police, witnesses in the case against Thomas Wardle
Statement of Thomas Wardle, the accused
Note that Thomas Wardle is a boy aged between 14 and 15 years and would have been tried under the Juveniles Offender's Act had not the committing magistrate considered him "a fit object" to be sent to a reformatory school. Although he has not been previously convicted, he is of idle habits and would not go to school, and has frequently been charged and suspected of dishonesty. His parents are poor people and have taken little care of him. They did not go near him when he was apprehended. He will probably plead guilty |