The stolen letters case went from Marylebone Police Court to the more intimidating Old Bailey, site of many famous cases: Dr Crippen had been tried there, and hanged. Crowley was tried before judge Cecil Whiteley on 24 and 25 July 1934. Whiteley had been to Crowley's old university, Cambridge, graduating with a third-class degree in Classics, and before becoming a judge he had been a barrister, unsuccessfully defending Edith Thompson in the Thompson and Bywaters case. Widely felt to have been innocent, she was also hanged.
The nub of the letters case was that Crowley had the letters from Captain Cruze, and Cruze (who could no longer be found) had them from Betty May. Crowley's defence claimed she had given Cruze the letters as security for a loan, and so they were his to dispose of as he wished. Considering letters to be valueless, and not suitable as security, the jury refused to believe this and decided that Crowley was guilty.
It could have been a custodial sentence, but Whiteley let him off with two years’ probation and 50 guineas costs. Crowley knew he should have been acquitted, at least according to his diary (“Attack of asthma stopped me spilling the beans in the witness box”) but he nevertheless mustered his dignity to say “Thank you, My Lord.”