7. Burglars

1. Having broken into a Hong Kong garment factory and found nothing worth stealing, burglar Yu Kin-Fong left a note saying; "Put some money here next time or 1*11 set fire to your factory. You make me do this for nothing. I can't even find 10 cents." He was tracked down and sentenced to 3 years.

2. Gloria Smile opened.the door to find the reformed burglar in his twenties standing on her doorstep. Returning to the scene of his crimes in Westclif f, England, the young man said he had found God, apologized to her and handed her a shopping bag containing a silver coffeepot, creamer, and sugar bowl. Unfortunately' he'd gone to the wrong house; Ms. Smile hadn't been his victim.

3. Two burglars raiding the Browns family home in Coventry, England got a little help from four-year-old Russell Brown. He got up to investigate when he heard a noise at 3 am, but the strangers he found in the darkened living room whispered that they were friends of his mommy and daddy who had come to borrow the stereo^ VCR, and TV, but didn't want to disturb them because it was so late. Russell was delighted to help, and held the back door open for his visitors as they left with their haul, before going back upstairs to bed. The men were later arrested and the property recovered.

4. Two 78-year-old burglars were caught red-handed in a house in San Paolo, Brazil, when the occupants of the house returned unexpectedly. The one inside was too deaf to hear the warning of hia accomplice outside, and the lookout man was not fit enough to escape.

5. Three burglars who broke into a cottage found nothing inside, literaUy. It was a front, held up by scaffolding and used by BBC for filming a drama at Ewenny, Wales.

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8. 'Miscellaneous' Crooks

1. In the Tasmanian town of Launceton, Dun Desmond Davey was fined $1,600 for quacking like a duck on his radio transmitter. He was convicted of broadcasting something that was not speech, and ordered to hand over his radio as well. Shortly before Barry Brownless of London was fined 1,600 pounds for barking at a police dog. He was found guilty of using threatening behavior.

2. A man was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, charged with impersonating a police officer. Using a stolen uniform, he had spent two months posing as a traffic cop in order to extort money from motorists. He finally came unstuck when a senior officer passed by on an inspection tour and he saluted with the wrong hand.

3. Pickpocket Mario Palumbo thought he was going to have another good day at the races as he mingled with a 75,000-stmng crowd in Monza, Italy. Unfortunately, his chosen victim turned out to be Retro Fontana, who was not only a cop but the head (if Milan's anti-pickpocket squad. Apparently known as the King of the Pickpockets, Palumbo was said to have remarked on his arrest: "When they hear of this in Naples, Г will die of shame."

4. John Gilmer of Goole, England, was arrested for drunken driving but the police left him alone for a moment. Seizing his opportunity he stole the car and drove off. He would probably have got away with it, driving along dark Yorkshire lanes, but for one thing: he had no idea how to turn off the patrol car's flashing blue light. The police simply followed the light and arrested him when he gave up and parked by a riverbank.

5. Unemployed David Morris, 21 from Beckenham in Kent, England, was passing the time before a date with his girlfriend when he wrote a note reading "I have a gun in my pocket and Г11 shoot it off unless you hand over the money". He then went into three shops and passed the note over the counter. At the drugstore an assistant refused to accept the note because she thought it was an obscene suggestion Next door in a hardware store a sales clerk shook his head and said he could not read English. Morris then went into a take-out restaurant, but the cashier couldn't read the note without his glasses. Morris asked for it back and hung around the street outside. Arrested soon afterward he told the police: "Fve been a twit... 1 only pretended to have a gun." He was put on probation for two years.

242 Just Eflglish. Английский для юристов