7th March 1939

Jersey and Edinburgh courts argue over inmate

George Darry’s arrest in a Jersey hotel caused a considerable amount of legal work across the mainland that tied up several courts as they considered multiple cases. Not only was Darry charged with involvement in a safe-breaking incident, but the Scottish courts also wanted to talk to one of his co-defendants, Thomas Lay, about breaking his bail conditions.

The Lord Justice Clerk charged Lay with outlawry, meaning the £100 bond that had been lodged against his bail would have to be forfeit. Meanwhile, Darry and Hugh Anson were to appear in a Bournemouth court to answer charges of shop-breaking, while a fourth man, Edward Edwards, was still being held in Jersey on suspicion of breaking and entering.

A complication

This was a problem, as the court had been convened in Edinburgh and the men had been called to account, which they couldn’t do as they were nowhere nearby.

It was claimed that Ley and co had been on bail for fleeing Edinburgh at high speed, for which they were caught in Newcastle when they had broken into the Bournemouth safe before escaping to Jersey.

Hearing this tangled tale, the judge wanted to declare that by failing to attend his court all four deserved to forfeit their bail bonds, but the clerk argued against this, telling him that although they were in court or custody elsewhere for something they had done, it wasn’t technically their fault that they couldn’t appear in the Scottish court.