DARWIN, June 7: The trial began here today before Mr. Justice Wells of two Melbourne business men, Donald Speed (37), of Toorak, manager of Autoterms, and Allan Leslie Penrose (30), accountant, of Caulfield, on charges of having stolen from the Commonwealth, at Darwin disposal sales last October, 6,046[sic] radio valves valued at £4,295.
Between 1.30 and 3 p.m. on October 17 the valves were missed from a shed at Swone, said the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. A. Alderman, K.C.). Speed, Penrose and their lorries were in the store between 1.30 and 2 p.m. Within an hour or two the stolen valves were in the possession of the two accused and had gone from the store. They divided the spoils between them. Speed's half had been hurried to Guinea Airways to be flown out of the Northern Territory but were intercepted. The other valves were at Vestey's meatworks.
Mr. Alderman said that three independent witnesses would prove that the two accused did take the valves from Swone. No direct motive could be ascribed to Penrose, who could not gain other than through his employers, the Waltham Trading Co. Speed, however, was the owner or controller of Autoterms, which sold radio parts. One witness, Digby, would say that Speed piled up a heap of valves in the aisle in Swone and got Digby and another airman to take the valves to a lorry.
The case is proceeding.
Source: Trove The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Tuesday 8 June 1948 Page 8