THE PORTSMOUTH EVENING NEWS

Portsmouth, Hampshire, England

25 July 1934

(page 14)

Aleister Crowley on Receiving Charge.

BOUND OVER AT THE OLD BAILEY.

“The Tiger Woman.”

BOOK WRITTEN BY ARTIST’S MODEL.

The hearing of the case for the defence was continued at the Old Bailey to-day, when the trial of Edward Alexander Crowley (58) who was described as an explorer, but is better known as Aleister Crowley, an author, 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 Park Gardens, Hampstead.

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

Letters Referring to a Witness’s Expenses

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 said that parts of the book were untrue, but the passage about Crowley and the Abbey [Abbey of Thelema] were correct. She alleged that a man named Captain Eddie Cruze had stolen the letters from her.

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. Stevenson (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 retired at 3 p.m.

Crowley was found guilty. He was bound over for two years and ordered to pay a sum not exceeding 50 guineas toward the costs of the prosecution.