THE LANCASHIRE DAILY POST

Preston, Lancashire, England

25 July 1934

(page 5)

“ALEISTER” CROWLEY CHARGED.

Alleged Receiving of Letters.

The hearing of the case for the defence was continued at the Old Bailey, to-day, when the trial of Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley (58), who was described as an explorer, was resumed. Crowley was charged with receiving four original letters and one copy, said to have been stolen from Mrs. Betty Sedgwick, professionally known as “Betty May,” an artist’s model, of South Hill, Park Gardens, Hampstead.

Mr. Melford Stevenson, prosecuting, said that the letters disappeared from Mrs. Sedgwick’s attache case, and were later produced during the hearing of the libel action in the High Court in which Crowley was the plaintiff.

The letters referred to the payment of certain expenses by a firm of solicitors to Mrs. Sedgwick, who was a witness for the defence in the action, and she was cross-examined upon them.

Mrs. Sedgwick was questioned at length, yesterday, by Mr. C. Gallop, defending, about a book she had written called “Tiger Woman. My Story, by Betty May,” she dais that parts of the book were untrue, but the passage about Crowley and the abbey was correct. She alleged that a man named Captain Eddie Cruze had stolen the letters from her.

PAID £5 FOR LETTERS

Crowley, in the box to-day, said that £5 was paid for the letters. He did not at any time suspect that they were stolen.

Mr. Stephenson, cross-examining: Did you think it in the slightest degree likely that that lady would consent to their passing into your possession?—I did.

Judge Whiteley: Why should you give £5 for something you could have got for nothing?—Her consent would no doubt be dependent on some compensation.

Judge Whiteley, summing up, said that Crowley had not been previously charged with any criminal offence at all. “So far as that is concerned, he comes into this court with a good character,” the judge added.

The jury found Crowley guilty.