The Constables and the 'Garage Girl': The police, the press and the case of Helene Adele

In the summer of 1928, the arrest on a disorder charge of a young woman in north London who gave her name as Helene Adele led to a press sensation after she claimed that the officers had falsely accused her in order to discredit her claim that one of them had sexually assaulted her. The constables w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Media history 2014-10, Vol.20 (4), p.384-399
Main Author: Wood, John Carter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autobiographical Materials
Crime
England
Females
Gender
human interest
Interwar years
Journalism
Lifestyle
London, England
Media coverage
Police
Police officers
Press
Sensation
Sexual abuse
Sexuality
United Kingdom
Working Class
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Summary:In the summer of 1928, the arrest on a disorder charge of a young woman in north London who gave her name as Helene Adele led to a press sensation after she claimed that the officers had falsely accused her in order to discredit her claim that one of them had sexually assaulted her. The constables were ultimately prosecuted, convicted and discharged from the Metropolitan Police. This article considers the Adele case in the context of intense concerns about the possible abuse of police powers-particularly in cases involving women-in the late 1920s. Adele was catapulted onto the front pages of Britain's sensationalist press: her serialised memoir appeared in a newspaper and was reprinted in a women's magazine. However, her case was more than just a tabloid spectacle. Contributing to historians' reconsideration of the sensationalist inter-war press, this article shows how the coverage of the case fit into the press's interest in young working-class women's lifestyles and sexuality, highlighting how 'human interest' journalism could be intermixed with social critique.
ISSN:1368-8804
1469-9729
DOI:10.1080/13688804.2014.949421