100 years ago

REVEREND S Rhys Williams, vicar of Holy Trinity, Shrewsbury, had indulged in a broad-minded utterance at the Exeter vestry meeting. He expressed satisfaction at the success which had attended the parochial football club, and said football was a good antidote to the public house.

He was present at a match played by their club on Easter Monday, and was delighted with the clean play and the clean language of all concerned.

He would not say he did not hear a “damn,” but people thought nothing of saying “Bother it!” and he did not know but that a “damn” now and then was a good thing. (There was laughter.)


50 years ago

SENTENCES of 30 years each were passed at the Buckinghamshire Assizes, at Aylesbury on seven of the 12 men found guilty of charges arising from the £2,500,000 Great Train Robbery at Cheddington in August 1963. Two more men received 25 years each, one 24 years, another 20, and the 12th man three years.

In passing sentence, Mr Justice Edmund Davies said the crime, in its enormity, was the first of its kind in the country, and he proposed to do all within his power to ensure that it would also be the last of its kind.

The judge said that when a great crime was committed it called for great punishment, not for the purpose of mere retribution but to show that others similarly tempted should be brought to a sharp realisation that crime does not pay.

“To deal with this case leniently would be a positively evil thing.” With the exception of Cordrey and Biggs, all had given notice of appeal against conviction.


25 years ago

MAXIMUM-security Full Sutton Prison, near Stamford Bridge, was set to take more dangerous criminals. The Home Office had decided to increase the number of Category A inmates, which included IRA terrorists, at the new rural jail. Full Sutton already included a number of Category A inmates.

Following a daring helicopter escape from Gartree Jail in Leicestershire, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, had decided to cut the number of prisons holding top-security category inmates from eight to six.

This would bring more Category A prisoners to Full Sutton – but the governor, Barry Smith, played down the decision.

“It will not actually affect the life of the prison or the area nearby,” he stressed. Currently Full Sutton was expected to be up to its maximum capacity of 440 prisoners, a mixture of Category A and B inmates, within a few months.

Two new wings, to open the following year, would increase this to 624 places.