The Sun. — 1841-01-21 (London, England)

WEST  WOOD.  Under the above head some particulars have recently been given of the trial, conviction, and subsequent sen• fence of transportation of a person at the Hull sessions, who was suppossd to have been concerned in the above murder. A sort of contradiction was afterwards given, but the matter was not at all placed in its true light. The following particulars in connection with the subject have been obtained by a correspondent from a source that may be relied upon. It has been ascertained that the individual in question, a few years ago, carried on the business of a watchmaker at Kingston, and having not into his possession a number of watches to repair, he decamped with them, and went to London, and when the hue and cry after him had in some degree subsided, he allied himself with some of the gambling fraternity, and was part proprietor of a gaming-house in Leicester-square. Soon afterwards he became acquainted with the female who was with him at Hull, and who passed for his wife, deserte l his own wife, took up with her, and they proceeded together to Hull, where the fraud and felony were committed which led to the prisoner's conviction and sentence. There appears to be no doubt that finding himself in this predicament, and desiring to be revenged on the woman, who was to some extent instrumental in his conviction, he concocted the story lie did, with a view to deceive the Magistrates, and being aware that the work; of many of the watches he had taken from Kingston were still in the possession of the female in question, at their joint lodging, he made use of the circumstance in support of his deception. The story of the prisoner, which was taken down in writing at the gaol, in presence of one of the Magistrates, was to the following effect : Ile states that Mr. Westwood was in the habit of going to bed at an early hour after the shop was shut up, and that the woman with whom he (prisoner) lived used to go and visit the old gentlemen afterwards, and it was she who first proposed the robbery, but nothing was said about murder. It was ultimately arranged that after the women had gone into the house to the old man, that he and two other men should be let into the premises, and that they should strip them of all the valuable prsperty which they contained. He then went on to state that everything was arranged, and on the night en which the robbery and murder took place, that he was to have been at the house at a certain hour to assist in the robbery, but when he got there he found the woman and a man, who was one of the party, in the act of putting the watches into a bag, and when they had placed a great number in the bag it was banded to -him, and be was told to make the best of his way from the place, and this, according to his statement, was all the share he had in the transaction, and he declared that he knew nothing of Mr. Westwood having been murdered and robbed until after the account of the murder was made public. lie went on to state that the cases were immediately removed from the works of the watches, and melted down and sold, and the proceeds divided between the parties, and a portion of the works of some of the watches were left in his possession, and he brought them with him to Hull, and, as he alleged, were still in the possession of the woman at his lodging. This was the substance of the story told by the prisoner, and in consequence of what he said a search was made, and the works of a number of watches were found ; but it has been satisfactorily ascertained that these watches never belonged to Mr. Westwood, and there is every reason to believe that they are the same originally stolen by the prisoner from Kingston, and that the whole of the story told by him referring to the murder of Mr. Westwood was trumped up by bun in the hope that he should thereby escape transportation. The prisoner has since been sent to the hulks in pursuance of his sentence.