Cambridge Daily News 29 Oct 1918: thefts from coprolite works

Munitions Ministry robbed. Wholesale thefts of Government property were described at the Shire Hall, Cambridge, on Saturday morning, when four prisoners were charged with stealing bedding, bedsteads, and various other articles the property of the Ministry of Munitions. In the corridors outside the County Divisional Police Court were heaps of blankets, sheets, pillows, bed ticks and iron bedsteads, and inside the court was another miscellaneous collection of articles, which were exhibits in the case. The bulk of the property was stolen from the Coprolite Works at Trumpington, but a number of the articles had been removed from the munitions works at Gretna Green, and conveyed by the prisoners to Trumpington. The thefts were admitted and three of the prisoners were sent to gaol. The fourth offender — a lad of 15 — was bound over.