Folkestone Herald
8-9-1962
Obituary
Mr. Leonard William (“Sam”) Hollands, licensee of the
George Inn, George Lane, Folkestone, died at the age of 61 on Wednesday, after
a long period of ill-health. He leaves a widow.
Mr. Hollands began his long connection with the brewing
and licensing trade at the age of 18, when he commenced work at Hythe Brewery,
where his father was yard foreman. He later left to become the licensee of the
King`s Arms, Boxley. After working in various capacities, Mr. Hollands became
licensee of the Star Inn, Stade Street, Hythe, in 1945. Ten years later he
moved to the George, at Folkestone. Mr. Hollands worked actively for the
Folkestone and District Branch of the Licensed Victuallers` Association, and
was in turn Treasurer, Vice Chairman and Chairman, holding the latter office
from 1954-56. He was then made a life Vice President. During the same period
Mrs. Hollands was of the Women`s Auxilliary of the L.V.A. Mr. Hollands also
served on the Kent Brewers` and Licensees` Panel, the Kent Federation, and the
South East District of the L.V.A.
A funeral service will be held at Folkestone Parish
Church at 3.15 on Monday afternoon, and will be followed by cremation at
Hawkinge.
The following application for transfer of licence was granted by the
Folkestone Licensing Magistrates on Wednesday: George Inn, George Lane, Folkestone, from Mrs. K. Hollands to Mr. R.C. Guard.
Folkestone Gazette
17-4-1963
Local News
Folkestone Herald 13-2-1965
Local News
Police statements about the responsibility of
publicans towards drunken drivers have brought protests from local landlords. Superintendent Frederick Coatsworth
said at Seabrook last week that licensees exerted a tremendous influence on
their customers and had a vital role to play in the prevention of offences
involving drink, especially where motorists were concerned.
Reaction from Mr. Reg. Gard, landlord of the
George Inn in George Lane, Folkestone, was “It just doesn’t make sense. We’re supposed to be
mind- readers now, asking customers their age to see if they are over 18. The only thing we can do is to refuse
to serve drinks to anyone who has obviously had too much. And, of course,
thirsty motorists could always wear a ticket around their necks saying “I’m a
driver. Please can I have a drink?””
Mr. Ron Letts, licensee of the Globe on The Bayle,
said “It’s ludicrous. Our job is to sell drinks. A fair proportion of my customers are drivers, and in
the nine years I have been here I have found they are generally responsible
people. On
the odd occasion, when you know your customer, it’s O.K. to say “Give me your
keys—you’d better take a taxi home”. But how can you say that to a perfect
stranger?”
Mr. Alec Wales, of the London and Paris, near the
Harbour, who is chairman of Folkestone, Hythe and District Licensed
Victuallers’ Association, put most of the blame on restaurants. “You cannot hold a publican
responsible for what customers drink”, he declared. “I don’t allow anyone who is
obviously drunk in my house, but when they can get served at a restaurant, what
can you do? I certainly don`t think the majority of drunks come from pubs”.
At Folkestone Brewster Sessions on Wednesday Supt.
Coats worth reiterated his opinion. “Licensees, particularly those whose
premises attract what is known as the motor car trade, have a vital contribution
to pay in regard to safety
on the roads”, he said. The
police are the first to realise in a town such as Folkestone that all persons
do not obtain their liquor in licensed premises. But, as responsible citizens, licensees can exert
a great
influence on their customers by always bearing in mind the effect which
alcohol taken in excess might have on drivers of a motor vehicle”.
The last word came from Mrs. Maud Lewis, licensee
of the Guildhall Hotel, chairman of the Women’s Auxiliary of the local L.V.A.
After Brewster Sessions she told the Herald “We all try to do our stuff. If we
think customers have had enough we tell them so. Irrespective of whether
they`re driving or not, I`m firm with them on the question of drink”.
Folkestone Herald 11-2-1967
Local News
Three weeks after he was fined £10 on an assault charge a soldier with
the 1st Battalion, K.O.S.B., stationed at Shorncliffe, appeared before
Folkestone magistrates again on Tuesday. Private Robert McGhie pleaded Guilty
to maliciously wounding another man in a public house fight and was fined £50.
Inspector E.K. Robinson said that at 10.50 p.m. on Friday police were
called to the George public house in George Lane, Folkestone. From there the
man McGhie assaulted was taken to hospital for treatment to facial bruises and
laceration. McGhie himself was arrested after a struggle.
McGhie, who appeared in court with a black eye and his right arm in
plaster, admitted two previous convictions for violence. He told the magistrates that he did not
become involved in the fight until someone hit him. When that happened he struck back, but
he did not know who he hit.
Folkestone Gazette
18-10-1967
Local News
Committal proceedings at Folkestone Town Hall on Friday
were interrupted for a time as a Magistrate, a witness, prosecution and defence
solicitors, police and the accused visited the scene of an alleged crime. The
unusual step was taken to clarify the position of a key witness at the time of
an incident in Rendezvous Street, Folkestone.
Brothers Michael Laws, aged 25, of Cliff Villas,
Folkestone, and George Laws, aged 26, of Alexandra Gardens, Folkestone, were
jointly accused of malicious wounding, attempted grievous bodily harm,
malicious damage and actual bodily harm. Michael Laws was also accused of
possessing an offensive weapon, while George Laws was further accused of
possessing an offensive weapon, malicious damage and driving while
disqualified.
Mr. A.C. Stokes, prosecuting, said that incidents
happened when Mr. John Wilcox, a fishmonger, of Bolton Road, Folkestone, and
Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Bolton Road, Folkestone, were in the George public
house at Folkestone on September 8. At closing time, as they helped to clear
up, an argument developed between Mr. Wilcox and the Laws brothers, who were in
the saloon bar. During a scuffle, he said, George Laws picked up a bar stool
and hit Mr. Wilcox with it, causing a wound on his head. Miss Smith became
hysterical, started throwing glasses around, and was locked in a lavatory by
the licensee, said Mr. Stables. After that incident Mr. Wilcox and Miss Smith
went to their van, parked in Rendezvous Street. It was about 1 a.m. But then,
alleged Mr. Stables, The Laws brothers arrived in another van. George had in
his possession a starting handle, and Michael a knife. Then George hit Mr.
Wilcox with the starting handle and Michael punched. There was no suggestion
that Michael used the knife, he said. Mr. Wilcox, he added, broke loose and ran
down Rendezvous Street to a telephone box. He dialled 999, but got no further
as the two men dragged him out of the telephone kiosk on to the pavement. Mr.
Wilcox again broke loose and the Laws brothers returned and set about Mr.
Wilcox`s van, said Mr. Stables, breaking the windscreen. George Laws, who was
using the starting handle, threw the handle through Plummer Roddis` window.
They then chased Mr. Wilcox around the streets in their van, and were at times
“perilously close” to him. One of them jumped out of the van and ran after Mr.
Wilcox while the other one drove. Fortunately, said Mr. Stables, a Mr. Robinson
got Mr. Wilcox into his van and took him away. In the meantime, Miss Smith,
having seen the attack on Mr. Wilcox, had tried unsuccessfully to phone the
police from the George public house. She went to a police pillar box in
Sandgate Road, but unknown to her it was no longer in use because police are
now equipped with personal radio communications. The Laws brothers drove up in
their van and asked her what she was doing. Miss Smith told them she was trying
to phone for a taxi, said Mr. Stables. They got out of their van, but then
George drove the van into Alexandra Gardens, said Mr. Stables, adding that
evidence would be given that he had been banned from driving for 10 years. On
other occasions the vehicle had been driven by Michael. Mr. Stables alleged that the two brothers then punched and kicked Miss Smith and
she received bruises to her body and her hand swelled up. Mr. Stables added
that somehow Michael Laws had received a cut or stab, but it was not clear how.
Mr. Michael
Davis, of Albert Road, Hythe, said that he was engaged on doing some internal
work at Plummer Roddis` store on the first floor when his attention was drawn
to a commotion outside. He looked out of a window and saw a blue van. “I then
saw another vehicle. I believe it was a Standard, but I am not sure about that.
It appeared to be a light grey colour. It stopped right in front of the blue
van and two chaps got out. I noticed that one was in shirt sleeves and that one
was a little taller than the other. The chap in the shirt sleeves had a
starting handle. He came out of the passenger side of the vehicle”. Mr. Davis
said that one of the men was left on his own with the two who had got out of
the light coloured vehicle. He alleged that the man with the starting handle
hit the man who had been left on his own on the bottom of the neck – what he
would call a light blow.
At this point
the Magistrates` Clerk, Mr. S. Winchester, told the two brothers “Take your
hands out of your pockets. You did not come here to lounge about as if you were
in a cinema. And stop having long conversations with your brother. If you want
to talk to your solicitor tap his shoulder if you want to draw his attention”.
Cross-examining,
Mr. W.E. Court, defending the Laws brothers, asked if it was possible for the
Court to see exactly from which window Mr. Davis observed these things. They
visited the scene and it was established that he had been looking from the
third window of the first floor at the lower part of the hill in Rendezvous
Street.
On their
return to the Court, Mr. Wilcox said that after the incident in the public
house Miss Smith and another man walked towards their van. Then, he said,
another van pulled up in front of his. In it were the Laws brothers. He said
there was “a bit of a scuffle”, and he was punched a couple of times. He
estimated the damage to his vehicle to be in the region of £60. “I had five
stitches in my head”, he said.
Miss
Elizabeth Smith, of Bolton Road, Folkestone, said that the first disturbance
arose after she had been playing dice with Michael Laws.
In
cross-examination by Mr. Court, Miss Smith said that there was no question of
her having got hysterical while she was in the George public house.
A brewery
labourer, Mr. Damon Robinson, of Stanbury Crescent, Folkestone, said that he
and som friends picked up a man who was being chased. The man was bleeding from
a cut on the head, and his suit had been cut. He seemed to be exhausted.
D.C. George
Hough said that he and another detective were called to the junction of Grace
Hill and Foord Road and examined Laws` vehicle. Under the dashboard, he said, a
wooden-handled knife was found. Later, said D.C. Hough, Michael Laws made a
statement in which he admitted having been at the George public house and
being involved in a scuffle.
The hearing was adjourned until next Tuesday.
Folkestone Gazette
1-11-1967
Local News
Because of lack of evidence two charges against a
25-year-old fisherman were withdrawn by the prosecution at the continuation of
committal proceedings at Folkestone Town Hall last Tuesday. A further charge
against Michael Laws, of Cliff Villas, Folkestone, jointly with his brother
George, of Alexandra Gardens, Folkestone, of attempted grievous bodily harm,
was changed to one of using threatening behaviour with intent to provoke a
breach of the peace. The brothers were jointly accused of using threatening
behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace; of unlawful and
malicious damage and causing actual bodily harm. George Laws was further
accused of unlawful malicious wounding, carrying an offensive weapon, unlawful
damage to a plate glass window, and driving while disqualified.
The charges resulted from a series of alleged incidents
in September, starting with a scuffle in the George public house and later in
Rendezvous Street and the vicinity of Tontine Street. It had been alleged that
Mr. John Wilcox and Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Bolton Road, Folkestone, had been
assaulted by the two brothers, and that Wilcox`s car had been damaged by them.
Mr. A.C. Staples, prosecuting, admitted that there was
insufficient evidence against Michael Laws of malicious wounding and possessing
an offensive weapon, namely, a knife, and he would not press those charges.
Regarding the charge the two brothers faced of attempted grievous bodily harm,
Mr. Staples said that there was insufficient evidence of Mr. Wilcox having been
hit with a car starting handle, and he suggested to the Magistrates that an
alternative charge, of using threatening behaviour in a public place, with
intent to provoke a breach of the peace, should be considered instead.
Detective Constable Brian Darnell said in evidence that
he was called to Rendezvous Street on September 9, where he saw Wilcox and Miss
Smith. Mr. Wilcox, he said, had an injury to his head, and Miss Smith was in a
hysterical condition, was without shoes and was holding her arm. Later, when he
searched the Laws brothers` car, he found a steel knife, but Michael Laws
explained that it was used in his job. At the police station, D.C. Darnell
said, Michael Laws was questioned, and a statement was made by him. D.C.
Darnell said that he then saw George Laws, who told him that Wilcox had started
the fight. In reply to the allegations, George Laws told him “I don`t know who
said all this, but they are lying”. D.C. Darnell continued, “I said to him that
it would also appear he and his brother smashed up Wilcox`s van, and that one
of them had driven their van into Wilcox`s van. He replied “No””. D.C. Darnell
read a statement in which George Laws was alleged to have said that his
brother`s head was injured in the scuffle in the public house and that after
leaving the George they went to their vehicle and noticed that it was damaged,
and that the van near to theirs had the windscreen smashed in.
In cross-examination by Mr. W.C. Court, defending the
brothers, D.C. Darnell said that Michael Laws had received a puncture wound on
the left side of his body and had to have a stitch inserted at the Royal
Victoria Hospital. He also had a superficial injury to his head, which was
bleeding. Asked if there were any other disturbances in Folkestone around the
time of the alleged incidents, D.C. Darnell replied that he had been assaulted
prior to this happening. “This was when I chased a man from the Odeon Bar and
ran down Rendezvous Street into the Dover Road area”, he said.
Mr. Court: Had there been any disturbance in Tontine
Street?
D.C. Darnell: I was not present, but I think there was.
Mr. Court: This was going on at the same time?
D.C. Darnell: I don`t honestly know.
The brothers were remanded on bail to await trial at
Folkestone Quarter Sessions, which commence on November 9.
Folkestone Gazette
15-11-1967
Quarter Sessions
Further jurors had to be called when several were
challenged at the start of a case involving two Folkestone brothers charged
with a total of seven offences, including malicious wounding, at Folkestone
Quarter Sessions. The defence questioned the eligibility of seven jurors and
the prosecution one.
At the end of a two-day
hearing on Thursday and Friday, George Arthur Laws, a self-employed painter, of
Alexandra Gardens, who was said to have served two terms of imprisonment, was
fined £50 for maliciously damaging a car owned by Mr. John Wilcox, of Bolton
Road, Folkestone.
He was told that he
would be sent to prison for two months if he did not pay the fine. Laws was also found guilty of possessing an offensive
weapon, a car starting handle, and given a conditional discharge. The jury found Laws, aged 26, Not Guilty on five other
counts. They were: Maliciously wounding Mr.
Wilcox; using threatening behaviour; assaulting Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Bolton
Road, Folkestone; maliciously damaging a plate glass window at Plummer Roddis
Ltd.; and driving while disqualified. Laws` brother, Michael, aged 25, a
fisherman, of Cliff Villas, was fined £50 for damaging the car. He was found
Not Guilty on the charges of assaulting Miss Smith and using threatening
behaviour. Both brothers were ordered to pay £25 compensation to Mr. Wilcox, a
fishmonger, for the damage to his car.
All the charges arose
from a fight in the George Inn on September 8 and incidents that followed in
the streets of Folkestone in the early hours of the next day, when Mr. Wilcox
and Miss Smith alleged they were chased by the two brothers.
In Court, George Laws
agreed that following an argument he called Miss Smith a slag. It was his intention
to insult her. Wicox came running through from the public bar. As he did so,
George Laws said he got off a stool on which he had been sitting and Wilcox
picked it up. They struggled with it in between them. He denied that he hit
Wilcox over the head with the stool. He saw his brother hit on the head with a
bottle by Miss Smith. He also saw Wilcox with a knife in his hand in the public
house and he saw Wilcox stick it into his brother`s left side. After leaving
the public house, he and his brother drove off in their van. He spent some time
trying to persuade his brother to go either to hospital or the police because
of the knife wound. As far as he was concerned he knew nothing more of the
incidents which were alleged to have taken place.
In cross-examination
he said he did not mention the stabbing when he was questioned by the police
because he did not think he and his brother would have any charges brought
against him.
Michael Laws said in
Court that he did not have anything to do with any chase of Mr. Wilcox. He also
had nothing to do with any damage caused to the car or the window. He noticed
that Mr. Wilcox`s car had been smashed, but did not know who had done it. Laws
claimed that he knew nothing about the damage to the plate glass window. He and
his brother were on their way to the hospital when arrested by the police.
Mrs. Pamela Chapman,
wife of the licensee of the George Inn, Mr. Denis Chapman, said in Court that
she had been playing dice with Miss Smith and the two Laws brothers. Michael
Laws mentioned to Miss Smith that she owed him £4. Miss Smith started to use
bad language. Miss Smith must have thrown at least two dozen glasses and some
bottles. Mrs. Chapman said she had not seen a stool raised. Michael Laws tried
to stop Miss Smith throwing glasses. Miss Smith was locked in the ladies`
lavatory. The Laws brothers both left the pub when she asked them, said Mrs.
Chapman. Mr. Wilcox stayed in the pub for about 15 minutes after the Laws
brothers had left. He had a knife about a foot long, and said to Mrs. Chapman
“The next time you see those two boys you won`t recognise either of them”. Mrs.
Chapman told the Court that some time after the incidents she received an
anonymous phone call threatening her to keep quiet about the knife. “I was very
frightened by it”, she added. In October she saw Miss Smith sitting on the
doorstep of the pub. In a conversation that followed Miss Smith said she had
got George Laws into plenty of trouble by telling the police that she had seen
him driving his brother`s van on the night of the fighting although she had not
seen this. On hearing this Mrs. Chapman contacted the Laws brothers`
solicitors.
Asked by the
prosecution if she was a close friend of George
Laws, Mrs. Chapman replied: “I don't know him any better than most of my
customers”.
The Court was told
that George Laws had seven previous convictions. He had been banned
from driving for 10 years and sent to prison for 18 months in 1963 for causing
death by dangerous driving. He had also served
another prison term.
Folkestone Herald 30-3-1968
Local News
A Folkestone man was acquitted at Sussex Assizes on Tuesday on charges
of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and malicious wounding.
The man, 32-year-old scaffolder, John Joseph Barker, of Shorncliffe
Road, pleaded Not Guilty to both charges. He was alleged to have committed the
offences at the George public house, Folkestone, when, after a fight, a
26-year-old marine engineer, Francis Pope, of Ingoldsby Road, Folkestone, had
to receive 23 stitches for a head wound.
Pope, in evidence, said he went to the George on February 16 about
closing time and had four pints of keg beer. He also went to other public
houses that night and had seven or eight pints and perhaps a whisky. He met
Barker in the George bar and told him he would like to discuss a private
matter. They went into the children`s room. There was an argument which became
a bit heated and they came to blows. They were punching each other and Mr.
Dennis Chapman, the landlord, separated them. There was a further fight and
they both fell to the ground. Soon afterwards Pope found he had a cut on his
cheek and was helped upstairs and later went to hospital. He said he went to
the George for a quiet drink and claimed that Barker struck the first blow. But
he admitted he probably told Barker he was going to “knock Hell out of him”.
In cross-examination, Pope said it was rubbish
to say he was a bully and spoiling for a fight, and not true that he had
provoked Barker all the time. He admitted
never having seen Barker with a knife.
Mrs. Mary Crozier, barmaid at the George, and
former friend of Barker, said that when Pope arrived at the pub he was drunk.
She saw him butt Barker in the stomach and set on him with his fists raised.
They rolled on the floor together. She saw Barker with a knife in his hand, but
she took it from him. At the time there was broken glass on the floor. Mrs.
Crozier added “I never saw Barker use a knife on Pope;
he wouldn`t even fight back”.
Medical evidence said that Pope`s injuries could have been caused by him
falling on broken glass.
Barker, in evidence, said he was drinking shandies. After Pope came to
the pub he went into a private room at Pope`s request and was struck in the
stomach and face. At no time did he use a knife on Pope. He pulled out a knife
from his pocket after he heard someone shout “Watch him; he`s got a knife”. He
thought he was being attacked from behind as well by another man. He told Mr.
Justice Thompson he believed someone else had a knife at that moment. He
admitted he would have used the knife if he had been attacked with one, but at
no time did it come into contact with Pope.
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