The following is a very lengthy response from Chat GPT. I don't know how helpful it will be but it makes fascinating reading, and just gives an example of how thorough AI is these days. It's come a long way in three years.
Zaph
"You are right to be cautious: if such an incident really occurred, especially an armed robbery involving wages cash, an internal suspect, and a trial at the Old Bailey, it ought to have left at least a faint documentary trail. The fact that you are finding nothing so far is itself a significant clue.
I’ll break this down into what can be said with confidence, what is plausible, and where you are most likely to find confirmation or refutation.
1. The company background (well established)
The Samuel Jones Company was indeed a major manufacturer of stationery and gummed paper, founded in 1810 and operating large works in Camberwell and Peckham throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
It is also correct that the firm was deeply embedded in government supply chains, including stamp-related materials in the inter-war period. While the oft-repeated claim that it supplied all gummed paper for British stamps in the mid-1920s is hard to prove definitively, it is broadly consistent with how the Post Office concentrated such contracts at that time.
So the setting of the story is entirely credible.
2. How plausible is the robbery story?
On the face of it, very plausible:
Cash wages were still common in large factories into the 1970s
Armed robberies of wages offices and cash deliveries were not unusual in London in that period
Inside jobs did occur, and some were prosecuted at the Old Bailey
A large workforce in Peckham/Camberwell would indeed have generated “folk memory” of such an event
However, plausibility is not proof — and several red flags appear.
3. Why the absence of evidence matters
An incident of the type described would normally appear in at least one of the following:
Local newspapers
South London Press
Camberwell Gazette
Peckham Times (or successors)
National newspapers if:
a firearm was used
an “inside man” angle emerged
the case went to the Old Bailey
Old Bailey Proceedings
Trials from the 1970s are indexed, and armed robbery cases are usually traceable by defendant name, employer, or location
Trade union or works records
Incidents affecting staff safety or pay frequently reached union minutes
The fact that none of this has surfaced so far suggests one of four possibilities:
4. Likely explanations
A. The event happened — but details are distorted
Very common with workplace oral history.
Possibilities:
The robbery occurred at a related firm or nearby factory
It involved threats but no firearm
It resulted in dismissal rather than a major prosecution
The trial took place at a quarter sessions court, not the Old Bailey
Over time, such stories often acquire a gun, a famous court, and a dramatic conviction.
B. It occurred under a different company name
By the 1970s, Samuel Jones had undergone corporate restructuring and partial absorption into larger paper groups.
A robbery reported under a successor or subsidiary name would be hard to spot unless you know the precise legal entity in use at the time.
C. It was deliberately kept quiet
Less likely, but not impossible.
Employers sometimes avoided publicity
Newspapers occasionally complied if no one was injured
An employee quietly jailed for a short sentence might attract minimal coverage
However, complete silence would still be unusual for an armed robbery.
D. The story is apocryphal
This cannot be ruled out.
Large factories generate enduring myths:
“the bloke who robbed the wages”
“the inside job”
“the Old Bailey case”
Such stories often persist for decades without documentary grounding.
5. Where you are most likely to find the truth
If the incident occurred, these are your best bets:
1. Old Bailey case indexes (1970–1979)
Search by:
occupation (“paper worker”, “factory worker”)
employer (“Samuel Jones”, “stationery manufacturer”)
location (“Peckham”, “Camberwell”)
If nothing appears here, the Old Bailey element is almost certainly false.
2. British Newspaper Archive
Focus on:
1970–1978
“wages office robbery”
“Peckham factory robbery”
“Camberwell paper works”
Local papers are far more likely to mention it than national ones.
3. Metropolitan Police crime summaries
Held at:
London Metropolitan Archives
Robberies involving firearms were logged centrally, even if press coverage was thin.
4. Former employee testimony
If you can identify:
long-serving workers
union representatives
Ask how they heard the story. First-hand recollections tend to be consistent; myths are not.
6. A measured conclusion
At present, the evidence points to this being either a misremembered real incident or a workplace legend that accrued dramatic embellishments.
The absence of any Old Bailey trace is particularly telling. In my experience, if a case genuinely reached that court in the 1970s, it will surface somewhere — even if only as a brief notice.
