When the Lights Went Down: Crime in Wartime London and Manchester

When the Lights Went Down: Crime in Wartime London and Manchester

A foreman, disgusted with the thieving ways of his gang, pick up a handbag on a bomb site and took out an empty purse. Turning to the men he remarked:

"It's the finest bloody bomb I ever came across. I have been all through the last war and I done several jobs in this, but I never came across a bomb like it. It's blown every bag open and knocked the money out; it's even knocked the money out the gas meters; yet it didn't break the electric light bulb in the basement."

Private James Turner shot his wife dead three days after their wedding in July 1942. He had received an anonymous letter saying she had been unfaithful:

"I then picked up my rifle and put five cartridges in it. I wasn't supposed to have them but I brought them home as a souvenir. I then pointed the rifle at her side and before I knew what I was doing, I fired a shot at her."

That same year Rose Denyer was receiving a tongue-lashing from the magistrate. He described her offence as being 'most revolting, disgusting and outrageous'. She was convicted for wasting bread, margarine, prunes, biscuits, jam and flour.

These stories and many, many more- mostly taken from the recently opened files at the Public Record Office- show the darkr side of life in the war-torn nation, where many took the opportunity to help themselves rather than their country.

Author Steve Jones

Published by A Wicked Publication

ISBN 1-870000-05-6