Report of Walford Walford, on 1 individual petition (Ann Ashton, wife of prisoner...

Report of Walford Walford, on 1 individual petition (Ann Ashton, wife of prisoner and daughter of James Royle of Ashton) and 1 collective petition (37 signatures, including overseers of the poor, and churchwardens), on behalf of John Ashton, labourer of Sale in the parish of Ashton upon Mersey, [Cheshire], convicted at the Epiphany Cheshire Quarter Sessions of breaking into a warehouse with intent to steal wheat from Joseph Reddish of Sale and others on 24 December 1925. Evidences from: Robert Royle, garden labourer; George Jones; John Kelsall; John Royle; James Royle, shoemaker, father of Robert Royle; Ann Royle; Martha Heyward, wife of Peter Hale; William Henshaw; Edward Pearson; Phoebe Colling, wife of James Colling of Sale, farmer; Edward Beverley, servant to James Grimshaw of Broughton, parish of Manchester; John Ashton. A note states that Joseph Reddish paid £50 to prosecute, George Jones, Thomas Coombs, Richard Owen, William Booth, and James Whalley, all paid £20 to prosecute. Robert Ryle [Robert Royle] was sentenced to 7 years transportation at same time; he was seen in the warehouse and caught by an owner of wheat on Christmas Eve. Grounds for clemency: Sure of his innocence, he neglected to provide all his evidence. Sentence: 12 months imprisonment. Recommendation: none given. Folios 131-148.