• “He’s a Thief!” –  Judy: #1528 (22 April 1989) – #1535 (10 June 1989)
• Art: Tom Hurst

Plot

Lynne Adams, has a good relationship with her divorced mother, but the one problem is she is a teacher at her school. To avoid favourtism her mom doesn’t go easy on her at history class and she always knows what is happening in the school, so Lynne can’t get away with things.  One day while waiting for her mom after school she sees the art teacher Mr Dawson looking suspicious and then take money from another staff member, Mr Pullen’s locker. There has been a number  of thefts in the school and now Lynne seems to have found the person responsible. She is going to tell her mother, but before she gets a chance, Ms Adams has news of her own, Mr Dawson has asked her out. Lynne wants her mom to be happy but she doesn’t want her dating a thief. She thinks if she accuses him now, people will think its because she doesn’t want her mom dating and because she complains to her friends about her mom being teacher, they will think she’s just not happy about having more teachers in her life.

She hopes the first date won’t go well, and then she will be able to tell her mom her suspicions, but Ms Adams and Mr Dawson hit it off and have a good time and continue to see each other. Lynne then tries to think of other ways to get rid of him. She hopes to set her mom up with their nice neighbour instead, but then finds out he is engaged. Meanwhile there are still things going missing at school. When Ms Adams purse is stolen, she tries to raise the subject that it could be Mr Dawson, but  she doesn’t listen. Lynne then sees Mr Dawson out with a woman, and is furious that he is a two timer as well as a thief. She arranges to go out with her mom to same place she heard Mr Dawson make plans with the other woman, so he can be caught in the act. It turns out Ms Adams knows the woman as she is Mr Dawson’s sister.

Lynne then tries to trap him by leaving out her own purse in view of Mr Dawson when he visits the house. He doesn’t take the bait but her gold bracelet that need fixing goes missing instead. Lynne is getting bitter that Mr Dawson has not been caught and he is splashing out on dinner while some kids in her class are struggling because they have had money stolen. She is delighted when she runs into two classmates the next day who have caught the thief in the act and locked him in the classroom. She is confused when the door is opened and it turns out to be one of the pupils at the school, Leon, who had previously claimed to be a victim of the thief. The proof is undeniable that he is a thief. Lynne goes to Mr Pullen and after talking with him finds out him and Mr Dawson were doing a surprise collection for one of the teachers together, that’s why Mr Dawson was secretly getting the money from the locker. She then discovers her bracelet was missing because her mom and Mr Dawson took it to get fixed as a nice surprise for her. Knowing that he is not the thief, Lynne can now be happy for her mom and is pleased to be able to start over.

Thoughts

In a not too surprising twist for these stories the actual thief is one of the supposed victims. This has been seen in such stories like Bunty’s Stop, Thief!  or Captain Carol. In this case though the real thief is more of a background character, than a main character.  The focus of the story is on Lynne trying to expose Mr Dawson, there is never any other suspects or investigation to try an find the thief, as she believes she already knows who it is.

It is a relief for Lynne to find that Mr Dawson is actually a decent guy, and everything else is just misunderstandings. The story is a shorter one at only 8 episodes, so things move along quickly. The art in some panels I did question if it was Hurst because it looked different to his style, but still overall does a good job. He is especially good at making Mr Dawson look guilty when we first see him in the shadowy empty corridor, it certainly makes it convincing that Lynne is in the right.  With that mindset it does make Mr Dawson’s other actions look suspicious, such as suddenly having money to spend on fancy restaurants and Leon telling his friends Mr Dawson was dismissive of his money been taken. But of course as we later find out Leon is the thief so it is likely he made up that story too!