ONCE a burglar, always a burglar – but Robert Markham was a poor advertisement for his profession and always getting caught.

By the time he appeared at Hampshire Assizes in 1931, he was 62 and had spent more than half his life behind bars.

And now here he was again, accused of breaking into to a house in Southampton.

His double downfall came in going to the home of the victim's mother and then writing an incriminating note, concluding with the intriguing invitation of "Let's sing the barmaid's song," which he passed to a suspected fence when both were on remand at Winchester Prison.

But as they say, there is no honour among thieves and his partner in crime shopped him to the police.

Markham, nicknamed The Chief and a motor mechanic when not behind bars, had only been out of jail for six days when he approached a woman resident in Hill Lane, Southampton, on the pretext of finding work.

"Come back the following day when my son and his wife are having Sunday dinner with me," she innocently told him.

Naturally when their home in Belmont Road, Portswood, was empty, it was rifled of jewellery and a valuable watch.

But for once he didn't have an obvious receiver and in desperation passed the goods on to an acquaintance, an out-of-work labourer, who promised to later pay him after pawning them.

But as he haggled with the shopkeeper, the police by chance dropped by.

The man called Jones claimed he had been taken in by Markham who was arrested a few days later in Salisbury.

"Am I going to be charged with larceny or housebreaking?" he asked.

"Probably the former," he was told.

But on the way to Southampton, Markham came up with an elaborate story.

He told Detective Constable Connor how he had met a stranger just yards from where the burglary had been committed. The man said he had just arrived from Canada and producing the stolen items from his pocket, asked him "do them in" as he couldn't afford a bed for the night.

Markham replied: "I know where I can" and bought them for a few pence.

However, when he eventually arrived at the Bargate police station, Markham was charged with housebreaking and the following morning appeared at the magistrates court – alongside Jones.

Both were denied bail and were remanded to Winchester, and it was there that Markham passed the extraordinary note.

It read: "I told the police that I received the things off Buffalo Bill. They know him as an American crook. He went back to the USA on the Homeric. He had a lot more things besides. He only wanted a few shillings to help him over to Monday and he asked me to sell the ring and the watch.

"I bought the 'bacca pouch off him and you had the ring off me in the morning and you would give me what you could for it. You saw me get the watch, ring and the other things off the chap we call Buffalo Bill and he had others in his pocket.

"If you stick to that, and the other witness, we shall get off. Don't let me down, old sport. I could not help you having got here. You said you were going to send the ring away and it would cost you 4d. Why did you not do so? Neither of us would be here now.

"Never mind. Don't let it make us enemies but let us be friends, still helping one another. We will not come back to Winchester but will be off to Salisbury, a damn good place. So cheerio. Don't be downhearted. Let's both sing 'The Barmaid's Song.'

"Yours, Robert."

The incriminating note was a central plank in the prosecution's case when he appeared before Hampshire Assizes on February 20, 1931. But by that time, his co-accused was free, the police having dropped the receiving charge.

Having read the note to jurors, prosecutor J G Trapnell then called Alfred Coote who admitted he was the person acknowledged as 'Buffalo Bill'. He told the court he had arrived in Southampton from Rhodesia on January 2 and was recommended by the police to stay at the Salvation Army premises where he met Markham and they had a cup of tea together.

"I did not see him again until he appeared in the police court," he insisted, strenuously denying he had asked Markham to sell anything for him.

Before leaving the witness box, Coote apologetically turned to the judge.

"I beg your pardon. I do not know the etiquette of the court but regard to these accusations. May I ask if I leave the court without a stain on my character?"

Mr Justice Swift told him: "As far as this court is concerned, you certainly do. There is no accusation against your character."

The witness bowed: "Thank you, My Lord."

Markham denied stealing the items, still claiming he had received them from a man called 'Buffalo Bill' but now bizarrely claiming the man he meant was not Coote.

His defence was hopeless and conviction quickly ensued.

Trapnell then revealed he had been released from prison less than a week before the burglary. He had twice been convicted of being an habitual criminal but if it could be proved that he had been making genuine efforts to reform himself, the jury would clear him of such an offence.

However, his fate was immediately sealed by Chief Inspector Percy Chatfield who, stepping into the witness box, proved a catalogue of previous convictions which included two spells of five years penal servitude and two spells of three years.

The judge remanded him in custody for a week as he pondered the length of sentence – and Markham turned out in style, wearing a morning suit, striped trousers and a winged collar.

"Have you anything to say before I pass sentence on you," the judge asked.

"No," he replied.

"You are in every sense of the term an habitual criminal," the judge told him. "You have 10 times over been convicted since 1897. You will got penal servitude for three years and you will be detained as an habitual criminal for seven years."