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It must have been at the end of 1950 when I had possibly what might have been my lucky break, says Harold Taylor who joined the force in 1948. I was on night duty and it was one of those days when everything goes either right or wrong.
I had been up to the railway station to see the last train out and my attention was drawn to a youngster of about 13. On questioning him, it seem pretty obvious that he was going nowhere in particular and could not be allowed to wander the streets all night as he was not from this area.
Having made some enquiries about him by phone, it transpired that he was an absconder from home or a school. On top of this he had been reported as having stolen £1 from his father and was wanted for that as well.
He was duly marched down to the station where he was to await an escort back to some area in London. I returned to the top end of town and recommenced my patrol and inspection of property.
During this I had the urge to make use of the toilets on the premises of Lintotts the wholesalers. So whilst I was there checked around the building and noted mentally what vehicles were present.
Later during the course of that night duty, at about 4.30 in the morning I was walking in North Street again not far from the same building when I noticed a person walking along the other side of the road, so went to speak to him.
In asking who he was I realised that he was a local criminal, who I knew by name only. I had just returned from leave and this was my first day back on duty so I did not know what had transpired during the intervening period since I was last on duty.
Before I had gone on leave I had dealt with a case at this lad's house where he was reported as having absconded from home with a sum of money. Not knowing the outcome of the circumstances, which had been taken over by CID, I asked the individual what the outcome of that had been.
He assured me that the situation had been cleared up. When I enquired where he was off to at this time in the morning, he told me that he was going to visit his grandmother over the other side of town who had been taken ill during the night.
In the normal run of events, this was plausible. As I was talking to him and walking along I noticed that the yard gates to Lintotts were now open, and remarked upon it. He stated that it would not be unusual as they frequently made early starts like that as he used to work there.
I knew that he had been dealt with before for having broken into the place, so I walked over with him and had a look inside the yard and certainly saw that there was a vehicle missing. I also found a door to the building open.
I then took the opportunity to make a cursory search of my individual, and only found two items that made me suspicious. These were the possession of two pocket knives and two packets of 10 cigarettes of different brands.
I told the lad that I thought we ought to go down to the police station so that I could check that the trouble he was in before I went on leave had been cleared up.
This he willingly agreed to do and it was not till we got to within about 50 yards of the station that he tried to make a run for it. Eventually we got inside and the Sergeant AJT, who was on night duty, was still there.
When I told him why I had brought the lad along he was not at all happy that I had done so, but the fellow on station duty took advantage to ring the Detective Sergeant who was living across the road.
He was over in a trice, and immediately identified the raincoat that my laddo was wearing as one that had been stolen from a store during the period that I had been on leave.
Whilst the preliminaries were taking place I said I would go back to Lintotts and see if I could establish if the premises had been broken into. Having got back there I saw that quite a bit had happened. This, I reported in by phone and awaited more CID staff. When they arrived I returned to the station.
The time was well after my knocking off time, so I requested permission to go home and tell my wife I would be late.
In doing so I took a longer route home and cycled past the home of the felon and found, parked in the same road but not outside his house, the missing vehicle and discovered it loaded with cigarettes.
Going to the nearest phone I also reported this and had to wait till another detective arrived to drive the vehicle to the police station.
Having continued home and reported the situation to my wife I returned to the station, where I discovered that in the meantime, the local refuse workers had arrived at their depot only to find that there were a large number of sacks loaded with tobacco products in the yard.
This yard was situated immediately across the railway track from the premises attacked. The entrance to this yard was also immediately opposite the entrance to the road in which the felon lived. So everything was tying up nicely.
The haul at the time was over £500 including the vehicle, but one has to realise that at the time prices had not increased very much. I think that our wages were only £6 per week, having recently had a hard fight for a pay rise.
I think that the Police Sports Fund gained considerably from this detection, especially as the tobacco products would not now be allowed for public sale, they were to be disposed of. I eventually received a gift of 500 cigarettes. Unfortunately I do not know the pickings of others.
I did not receive the gift till after I had changed divisions and I had not been to the Quarter Sessions as the fellow had pleaded guilty and admitted about 11 cases of store breaking around Kent, Sussex and South London.
I was particularly annoyed about not attending court, as I had not even been told that the case was coming up till it was all over and I received the package.
I received my first official commendation for this case. It was also odd how things turn up. As I started this passage, the night had begun with me taking the young boy into custody, and my twenty-four hours of excitement was not over yet.
I had been told to return to the station to get formalities over with and was leaving the station just as the afternoon section was arriving.
About a hundred yards away from the station was a cafe. As I cycled past, I noticed the number of a car that had been circulated as belonging to a person who was wanted for interview for non-payment of a bill at a country club.
As luck would have it another constable coming on duty was coming past and I collared him and asked him to keep observation on the car whilst I went and contacted the CID man dealing with the case. Otherwise I could see myself being on duty for an even longer period.
I got to the station and informed them that the other fellow would be late and why, then contacted the CID man who was in attendance by the time I got back to the scene. The chances of a day like that must be one in several millions. But then, most of police work is luck and intuition.
As the result of my luck, the Superintendent, who was acknowledged to be a good policeman albeit a miserable one, took a little interest in me and frequently made a point of talking to me.
It was his opinion that a quiet backwater like Horsham held less scope for me than a place like Worthing and so I feel it was his prompting that got me posted to the larger borough.
Harold Taylor West Sussex, 2001
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