50 YEARS AGO Comrie farmer guilty in sheep rustling trial

The Herald reported a case of a farmer accused of receiving stolen sheep.

“Sheep farmer Alexander Prentice, Wester Auchraw, was in Perth Sheriff Court last week, on a charge of re-setting stolen ewes.

“He was alleged to have bought seven sheep last December knowing they were stolen.

“Crown witnesses included two men who said they had stolen the sheep – George Ferguson and Duncan McMillan, both Comrie.

“Ferguson said he and McMillan were drinking in a bar in Comrie when they got into a conversation with Prentice. He said that he told Prentice he could get him some sheep. Later he warned Prentice that they would be ‘ hot’, meaning they would be stolen. Ferguson said that he and McMillan stole seven ewes from Cultybraggan Farm and sold them to the accused for £4 each.”

Denying the charge, Prentice agreed he bought the sheep but claimed he was told they were not breeding stock so he thought this was a fair price and had no reason to believe they were stolen.

His story didn’t pull the wool over the Sheriff’s eyes however. Finding him guilty, he said “The £28 paid was only half of what the sheep were worth. The transaction had been carried out in a public bar with a man whose occupation was not connected with sheep. No mention of the transaction had been made in the accused’s stock register.

“In these circumstances, concluded Sheriff Prain, the evidence shows clearly that the accused is guilty.”