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Forensic scientist looks into broken window
Aug 15, 2002
A BROKEN window in Barnard Castle is being investigated by forensic scientists to find out how old it is.The window, which is over five feet high, at Pampas on Galgate, was smashed a fortnight ago. The youth who did it owned up the next morning and offered to pay for the damage.
However, the broken glass attracted the attention of forensic scientist Dr James Thorpe, the son-in-law of Helena Richardson, who owns the building.
He has taken samples of the glass, which is half an inch thick, back to Strathclyde University to find out its age.
“It must be well over a hundred years old,” said Mrs Richardson. “I think my husband’s grandparents must have put it in.
“I’ve been here 57 years and it’s been there as long as I can remember. My husband got the building from his aunt but I don’t think she put the window in, so it must have been his grandparents.”
Mrs Richardson has photographs of the shop before the window was put in, when it was a candlemakers. She ran a gas and plumbing business with her husband, Thomas Benjamin Richardson, on the premises before it became Pampas.
“My son-in-law was here for the weekend and when he saw how thick the glass was he was very interested in the age of it,” said Mrs Richardson. “He took some back to the laboratory to see how old it was. It must have taken a big knock to put it out.
“It’s nice that the person admitted it, he must’ve had a very good mother to make him come and own up to it!”
Diane Raine, the proprietor of Pampas, said the window cost £462 to replace.
“I just hope this one’s in for another hundred years,” she said. “I can’t be going through that again!”
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