UK Police Gazette/ Criminal Record help 1920s London

[mj2504]

I'm hoping someone might be able to check in the 1924, 1926 and 1927 UK Police Gazette to help me make sense of the police record for a person that I am researching.

The person is Alice Wiltshire (alias Alice Woodroff, Hilda Carson and Marie Osborne).

My questions are:
- In her first conviction is says 'as Alice Wiltshire alias Alice Woodroff' does this mean she had a prior conviction under Alice Woodroff that isn't listed here?

- In her first conviction it says 'P.O. Act'- what does that mean?

-In her 2nd and 4th convictions it says she was fined 40 shillings (?) or one month/ 26 days- does this mean she served prison time? if so, how do I find out which prison?

- I am trying to verify the date of her 3rd conviction, as here it says 1926, but in the police statement for the officer who arrested her (that appears in in the inquest documents), the year is given as 1927, not 1926.

The dates for these records don't appear to be in FindMyPast or Ancestry, and a general search for all of these names in those websites doesn't get any hits for criminal registers etc.  I live in Australia so don't have a way to check a UK archive myself. If anyone could help with making sense of this criminal record, I would greatly appreciate it.
thank you!

[Andy J2022]

- In her first conviction it says 'P.O. Act'- what does that mean?

Given that she was charged with prostitution, PO stands for Public Order Act, most probably the one from1860

[AntonyMMM]

In this context P O Act will be the legislation under which she was Bound Over which would refer to the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 (Section 1).

The two names in the first conviction are how she was charged, so at that time she was known to use both names - it doesn't necessarily mean she had a previous conviction.

The fine or imprisonment are given as sentences "in the alternative" so she either paid the fine or went to prison - there is no way of knowing which from this record.

In the second conviction there are two sentences of 40/- or one month, one of which is because she was in breach of being bound over a few days before. If she did elect prison the periods were to be concurrent so she would only serve one month.

From Marlborough St Court (somewhere I gave evidence at myself a few times) if she did go to prison it would probably have been Holloway, the records of which are to be found at The London Archives ( formerly known as LMA).

I wouldn't imagine such a minor offence would feature in the Police Gazette - with the discrepancy over dates you would probably have to check the court records although if the inquest was later I would suspect the 1926 date is the correct one.

[mj2504]

thanks @AntonyMMM you've been a big help!