1950s criminal records

[hiraeth]

Can anyone offer advice as to how to research someone who committed an abuse crime in the Battersea/Wandsworth area in the late 1940s early 1950s?  He was tried and convicted and apparently did some time in jail possibly as late as the 1960s.   I'm thinking that because of protecting the victim/s it was unlikely to have been published in the local newspaper at the time.  It might not be possible to learn any more, but I would welcome input from others just in case anyone else has had a similar difficulty.     

The individual involved is now deceased but I would prefer not to mention names to protect living relatives. 

Thanks

[Ewan]

My family was in the same situation a few years back, a crime had been committed in the late 1950s in Sheffield and a prison sentence was handed out to a serving policeman, strangely enough it was an abuse crime as you have mentioned.

We found information from the local library in the area after going through many local newspapers.

A suggestion maybe would be to go to a local library or wherever they would keep copies of local newspapers.

Good luck, hope you find something, as we did.

Just realised you are in Canada, makes it a bit more difficult the way we did it.

[toni*]

the DPA no longer applies once the person has deceased maybe its worth contacting the Police archive ??
you would obviously need evidence the person had died
 

[Annie65115]

There's a rumour of something similar in my tree, maybe about 50 years ago. nothing more than a rumour because no-one would speak of the person involved.

And I decided to let sleeping dogs lie. Any such offences took place a long time ago; the person concerned is dead; but his (adult) children are alive. Why rake up something as nasty as that?

[hiraeth]

Ewan - you are correct - the local newspaper archive search is not a viable option at the moment.

toni* - any idea which Police archive would contain this info?

Annie65115 -  if it were any other crime I would agree with you.  Sadly this one can continue to poison for multiple generations.     

Thank you all for your responses. 

   

[Daisy Loo]

toni* - any idea which Police archive would contain this info? 

The Metropolitan Police appears to have jurisdiction over Battersea.  Also, how about trying to contact the local council, and see if they could look up local papers?  I can't see why a crime wouldn't be published in the papers...perhaps victims weren't named to protect them, but I'm sure details would have been published.  Sadly, these kind of stories appear to sell newspapers

Added: http://cms.met.police.uk/met/boroughs/wandsworth/index
           http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/a_to_z/service/429/archives

[hiraeth]

Thanks for the links Daisy Loo.  I will follow them up