Penge Penal Institute, 7 March, 8–30 am
Strappings of 24, 24 and 48 strokes, respectively, administered to Miss Barbara Harris, 19, Miss Catherine Wilmot, 20, and Mrs Joanne Newman, 45, all of Tennyson Avenue, West Penge, where they had been caught soliciting on Sunday evening. The magistrates accepted the plea of the two younger women that they had only engaged in illicit activity at the coaxing of Mrs Newman, a woman of ill repute with three previous sentences to her name; a lighter sentence was accordingly awarded. The strappings were administered on the bare bottoms of the women by SCO Rodwell and DCO Prendergast, operating in tandem. Miss Harris screamed continuously after the third stroke, Miss Wilmot after the seventh. Mrs Newman bore her punishment in silence. It was noted that her buttocks bore the marks of previous strappings. SCO Rodwell subsequently wrote a letter to the magistrates expressing her concern at the inadequacy of the strap to effect a change in Mrs Newman’s behaviour, and recommending, in the event of Mrs Newman re-offending, a recourse to the cane or birch.
Signed: SCO RODWELL