Leicester prison records

[davidgodalming]

Hello. I wonder if anyone can help. The brother of an ancestor from rural Carmarthenshire was imprisoned for sheep stealing in 1865 and although the crime took place in south west Wales there's a pencilled note of Leicester on the court record.
I visited the records office at Wigston Magna but whilst the people there were very helpful they only had admissions records for 1868/9 and no mention of the person I'm interested in. Also what seem curious is he got a 5 year sentence but most of the sentences in the records book were 3 months or less. Also the crimes were all committed in and around the Leicester area so quite why someone was sent such a long way to prison I have no idea.
I wonder if there were two or more prisons in Leicester at the time. Does anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

[Bunnygirl]

Hi davidgodalming
Have you tried The British Newspaper Archive at the British library?  there may have been a report in the  local newspaper.

Regards

Bunnygirl

[davidgodalming]

That's a quick response !! My brain hasn't been working as well as it should and funnily enough as soon as I posted my message I started to wonder about newspaper archives. I'll happily take your advice.

[willsy]

If you post some details I can look up the Leicester paper for you

[davidgodalming]

The person I'm trying to get details on is James Jonathan, i.e. Jonathan is the surname. Aged 22 he was commited to court in Carmarthen on 10 August 1864. He was tried 21 October 1864 and got a 5 year sentence. The bit about Leicester prison is pencilled in as opposed to written in ink on the Carmarthen Register of Felons so whether he actually went to prison in Leicester I just don't know.
Any help greatfully received. Thank you.

[willsy]

Is this the record you have

http://www.welshlegalhistory.org/felons-register-search.php?func=showrecord&srch_id=10977

My newspapers don't cover Carmarthen, so haven't found a record and so far nothing in Leicester

[davidgodalming]

I got the info via www.gtj.org.uk/en/small/item/11844 if that's any use.

[willsy]

Sorry, have not come up with anything, the coverage is not wide enough.

[davidgodalming]

I've looked again at the Welsh records and I'm confused. He seems to have got one month's sentence for the crime of sheep stealing but then he is indeed transfered to Leicester prison. Maybe I'm just misunderstading things but after a month he was transferred to Leicester for 5 years penal servitude. 5 years seems very harsh in terms of length - maybe he'd done other things. Anyway thank you so much for your trouble.