To catch a thief! Dominic Regan spills the beans on some infamous rogues & eccentrics
Suspicion is insufficient. Hard proof is required to prove a case. Over the years resourceful parties have secured the necessary evidence.
The playwright Joe Orton and his partner Kenneth Halliwell stole over 1,600 illustrations from library books. They also took books out and defaced the covers before returning them. For example, the dust jacket blurb of a 1930s’ detective story was slightly adjusted to say: “Read this behind closed doors and have a good shit while you are reading.”
Islington Council suspected the duo. It was a member of the legal department, Sydney Porrett, who was their undoing. He sent a provocative letter to the couple alleging, without any foundation, that they had illegally parked their car. Orton typed an indignant denial. The typeface was an exact match to the alterations made. The men were convicted of malicious damage and imprisoned for six months.
Virgin records?
Billionaire Richard Branson also got off to a rocky start. He discovered that purchase tax of 33% on records sold domestically did not apply
