South Yorkshire Times and Express, September 1st, 1951
Shoplifting at Sheffield
Wombwell Woman Placed on Probation
A 40-year-old Wombwell woman, accused at Sheffield on Tuesday of shop–lifting in a Sheffield multiple store, told the magistrates that her lapse was due to worry. She was placed on probation for two years.
The accused was Lily Utley, of Hough Lane, Wombwell, who appeared on the second charge of stealing a pair of nylon stockings from a market stall, and who asked for two similar offences to be taken into consideration she was ordered to pay £1 towards the costs.
Utley told the court “I put it down to worry. I have had a lot of worry this last four years and it is getting me down.”
“The first worry was my daughter of 16, who wanted to get married, and I was having my baby at the same time. Then a daughter was suspected of infantile paralysis. Soon after that my boy of 14 got in trouble. A boy, aged four, fractured his thigh.”
Chairman (Sir Basil Gibson): all that shouldn’t make you leave home and go wandering around Sheffield stealing people’s property, you know.
Mr. J. Lindsay, prosecuting, said that Utley was seen in a Sheffield multiple store where she picked up several Christmas ornaments. She slipped them into her sleeves, and at the same time handled several ornaments. With the same hand she replaced those on the counter and then dropped those up her sleeve into her bag. By taking things from various counters, she got articles valued at £2 5s 9 ½d.