INTENSIVE POLICE MANHUNT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 60, 20 December 1948, Page 4

INTENSIVE POLICE MANHUNT

DEATH OF PENSIONER AT NAPIER (P.A.) NAPIER, Dec. IS. An intensive manhunt, in which police officers from Wellington, Napier, Hastings and Wairoa are co-operating, is in progress in the Wairoa distret following the discovery of the battered body of a pensioner, Herbert William Brunton, aged 69, in a one-roomed hut near the Wairoa railway station early yesterday afternoon. It was revealed this morning that the deep gashes in the vietm’s head could have been inflicted with an axe found in the j hut by the police. There were no blood-stains n the axe, but the presence on the floor of the hut of several balls of blood-stained paper suggests that one of these could have been used to wipe the axe blade clean. It is still not certain, however, that the axe was thei murder weapon. Further bloodstains were found yesterday in a small outhouse a few yards from the hut. Little is known about Brunton’s movement® the night before the body was found, although a neighbour, Charles French, saw a light burning in Brunton’s hut about midnght. Mr French suffers frqm deafness* and therefore was unable to give any information regarding any noise or cries for help during the night.

NO FRESH DEVELOPMENTS >. (P.A.) WAIROA, This Day. In spite of the fact that the police have been working exceptionally long hours, there have been no further developments in the Brunton mystery. Over the week-end a large number of statements were taken from pakehas and,Maoris, and a few Chinese resident here. Investigations have been carried out over a large area. The police are receiving all possible co-operation from the people of the Wairoa district. The crime, which is looked upon as equally cruel and gruesome to that of the Smythe sisters in 1942, has created a feeling of horror locally, and there is no doubt that the police will receive all possible assistance from the general public in solving the crime..