SHE was naive and had been used. The judge knew it.

“Take care of her,” Baron Huddleston urged her father.

Annie Drake, an 18-year-old servant who had no education, sat whimpering in the dock at Hampshire Assizes in 1879 for obtaining goods under false pretences.

Even the defence barrister wasn’t sure she should have been there.

“She has pleaded guilty under my advice,” explained Mr Warry, adding: “I do have my doubt that she committed the offence under the influence of another woman who is now in prison for receiving a stolen ring.”

The judge beckoned Mr Marsh, her former employer, to come forward.

“She is very well connected but ran away from my service. I gave her a very good reference.”

“Would you take her back,” the judge inquired.

“No,” he bluntly replied.

So the judge called her father.

“Will you endeavour to keep her out of temptation. I think a love of finery has led her into this trouble.

She has been made the subject of designing persons.”

The judge ordered Drake to stand: “You have spent three months in jail. I am giving the opportunity of regaining your character.

I hope you will make amends to your father by showing he has not misplaced his confidence in you.”

Drake curtsied: “Yes.”

“The sentence is three days imprisonment, so you are free to go.”