HE earned his living as a comedian but this was no laughing matter.

Thomas Futcher, 29, denied stealing the silver case which he showed to the landlord of the Wheatsheaf Inn, Alton. Instead he said he had found it in Turk Street.

He offered it for sale for a paltry 1s but the landlord told him he would receive a better reward if he had handed it in to the police.

It transpired the case had been among several items stolen from a teacher in his drawing room at the town’s grammar school but Futcher was adamant when arrested and taken into custody, he found it near the brewery.

He had asked several people if they had lost it and had shown it to several lodgers where he was staying.

“I did not take it to the police station because the last time I did such a thing, I was held for three days,” he explained at his appearance at Hampshire Assizes in 1912 when he denied theft.

“So I threw it into a dustbin.”

Mr Justice Darling suggested to the prosecution the case should be withdrawn from the jury, who then returned a formal ‘Not Guilty’ verdict.

After they had left court, the judge disclosed Futcher had several convictions, and that might have provided him with a very good reason for not taking it to the police.

To the judge’s amusement, Futcher remarked: “The next time I find anything, I shall leave it alone.”