THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Men found guilty of football betting in Lurgan

Lurgan Petty Sessions was the setting this week in 1914 for an interesting court in which several local men were tried under the Street Betting Act, reported the News Letter on this day in 1914.

District-Inspector Ryan had summoned three men named as Hugh Lavery, Robert Boyle and John Mulholland.

The trial saw an interesting legal wrangle between the District-Inspector and the men’s solicitor, Mr A Campbell, who refuted the allegations against his clients.

Mr Campbell claimed that the case should never have come to court as the police had no right to act under the warrant in question.

District-Inspector Ryan replied: “A betting house is a gaming house. That is the law.”

To which Mr Campbell remarked: “It’s a different Act altogether and I contend you had no right to enter under such a warrant.”

But the magistrates found in District-Inspector Ryan’s favour and the cases proceeded. He went on to tell the sessions how police had entered Mr Lavery’s barber’s shop in North Street and had discovered 82 football coupons and a sum of money amounting to £2 17s 6d.

The chairman of the sessions and the magistrates found all of the defendants guilty but as it was their first convictions in Lurgan “they were inclined to be lenient” and therefore only imposed a £5 fine on each of the men.

Mr Campbell immediately gave notice that the men intended to appeal and said that a “monstrous” mistake had been made.

He said that there was not another Bench in Ireland which would convict on the evidence heard that day.