CRIME IN OLD ROTHERHAM: No charges in pub police 'assault case

A counter summons had been taken out against Farmery by John Evans, accusing him of being on licensed premises during prohibited hours, and demanding to be served with alcohol. PC Farmery had been walking down the High Street in plain clothes that night at around 11 pm, accompanied by another man called Henry Milner.

The pair met a recruiting Corporal for the Grenadier Guards called Richard Allerton who was quite intoxicated. They asked him where he was lodging and when he told them the Black Horse, the two men accompanied him safely into the house. Finding the side door open they took him inside and made sure that he was comfortable before leaving. Those facts were indisputable, but that was where the story changed. 

According to PC Farmery’s evidence he claimed that at that point the landlord John Evans flew at him, accusing him of being ‘the Chief Constable, John Gillett’s spy’ and stating ‘you have been sent here to do me a private injury’. He then locked the door saying ‘You have come in, and I will take good care you don’t go out’. The constable stated that the landlord then struck him on the chest, kicked him in the thigh and pushed him into a corner where he fell onto the floor. Evans then set a dog on him which tore his uniform trousers in the process. PC Farmery said that at this point Mrs Evans and a waiter, called George Henry Hallam of Kimberworth Road, also attacked him, and he claimed that they were all drunk.

Police constable Cartwright also gave evidence that he had been sent for, and that when he arrived he found his colleague in a corner. The injured man told him ‘I am glad you have come, they have used me worse than a dog’. PC Cartwright told the court that Farmery was sober and that Evans and the waiter were drunk. Police constable Eke also gave similar evidence, claiming that Evans was already drunk at 10 pm the same night. Superintendent Gillett told the bench that Farmery gave a report of the events of the night at 11.30pm to him, and he could vouch for the fact that he was sober at the time. 

The case against PC Farmery was then heard, and evidence was taken from Mr and Mrs Evans, Mr Hallam and his wife, and Allerton the recruiting corporal. Hallam the waiter told the court that when Farmery came into the Black Horse he was accompanied by the recruiting corporal, and asked Mrs Evans if he could have a bed for the night. She told him that all the beds were occupied and he asked for a drink, which she refused to serve him. The constable then began to create a disturbance, and so she sent for her husband who tried to eject him.

In response Hallam stated that Farmery chased Evans around the kitchen and he was shouting that he would have the landlord and his wife on a charge of being ‘beastly drunk’. He claimed that it was at that point that PC Farmery himself locked the door, in order to get witnesses to prove that he was not drunk. Hallam said then the constable flew at Evans and grabbed him around the throat. By now Evans had enough, and he sent for the assistance of the police. Three or four policemen attended and Farmery was asked to leave the public house to which he complied. Hallam’s wife gave corroboratory evidence saying that Farmery sat on a table folded his arms and refused to leave. He was not kicked by the landlord who she stated was sober, as was his wife. 

Richard Allerton the recruiting sergeant also told a different story. He said that he saw Farmery at the bottom of the High Street, and he asked him where he could get a drink, and it was the constable who took him to the Black Horse. He heard Farmery ask Mr and Mrs Evans for a glass of beer and when it was refused, he insulted Mrs Evans. This concluded the evidence apart from PC Eke and PC Cartwright being re-called and asked if Farmery had been ejected from the Black Horse. They told the magistrates that he had walked out of the public house himself.

The bench stated that as each case had been taken separately, they were in a position to say that none of the charges had been proved. The hearing of the case, which had taken four and a half hours, was then dismissed.