The Lincolnshire Echo has re-lived the tale of how a copy of the newspaper helped two police forces capture a woman and solve a crime

Eighty years ago the Echo carried a story about the astuteness of two Lincoln police detectives and their hunt for a woman wanted for fraud.

Their only clue was a mutilated copy of the newspaper. The woman, it was alleged, had obtained credit by means of “a fraud other than by false pretences”.

When she appeared in court, the 32-year-old, of no fixed abode, was charged with the incurring a debt of £2 9s.

A further charge of a similar nature, this time involving the amount of five shillings and sixpence, was also preferred.

The case was not dealt with by the Lincoln court since the woman was wanted by the Nottingham police and she was handed over to officials of Nottingham. It was stated that the Lincoln charges would be mentioned in court.

The circumstances of the arrest were not divulged in open court but it appears that the woman had been lodging on Steep Hill, absconding and leaving articles behind and her unpaid bill. She spent two days in other lodgings before leaving, again with unpaid bills.

The matter was reported to the police and two detectives commenced inquiries. Visiting the house in Steep Hill, they found a copy of the Lincolnshire Echo, from which a portion of the front page had been removed.

Visiting the Echo offices, they compared the page with one in the files and found that the missing portion related to two advertisements of “apartments vacant” in the city.

They visited the addresses given and at the second house, on the outskirts of the south of the city, found the woman.

Questioned by the detectives, she admitted being the person who had defrauded the previous landladies and thus the person they were looking for.

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