AMAZING CONFESSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

AMAZING CONFESSION.

AIRCRAFTSMAN ON CAPITAL CHARGE

VISITED HOUSE "SOLELY TO COMMIT MURDER" — WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN FLAT — BLONDE BEAUTY HE NEVER MET BEFORE — UNCONTROLLABLE DESIRE TO KILL — HID FACE OF VICTIM AFTER STRANGLING.

" ! Just murdered her because I wanted to murdor someone. I had not the guts to commit suicide, and 1 knew that by doing it ! should lose my own life." This was part of the amazing statement alleged to have been made to the police by a young aircraftsman, who stood in the dock charged with the murder of a beautiful golden-haired woman at her London fiat. The alleged statement wont on to describe in dramatic words how he met the woman casually, went to her home, and there " gripped her throat until she did not move," afterwards putting pillows over her face " because I did not want to see it." Last month sentence of death was passed on the murderer. In the dock before the South Western magistrate, London, a greatcoat covering his Royal Air Force uniform, stood Frederick Herbert Charles Field, 32, an aircraftsman stationed at Hendon. He was charged with the murder by strangling, on April 4, of Mrs. Beatrice Yilma Sutton, 4S, of Elmliurst Mansions, Edgeley Road, Clapham. Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr. Vincent Evans explained that Mrs. Button, who lived apart from her husband, occupied the ground floor flat at Elmlnirst Mansions. "The last person to see her alive, apart from Field," Mr. Evans continued, "appears to be a Mrs. Gladys O'Connor, a friend of hers, who occupied a neighbouring flat. Mrs. O'Connor was in Mrs. Sutton's flat at 8.40 p.m. on April 4. and at that time there was a big coal fire in the bed-sitting room which Mrs. Sutton occupied.

thought I would stick myself in the position where somebody would do it. '"I went to her place and done her in, and, as you might say, put myself on the spot." Later that evening Field was seen by Divisional Detective-Inspector Halliday, who said: '"1 understand you want to tell me about the woman?" Field's answer was said to have been: "Yes, I did it. I want to tell you how and why I did it. I will tell you everything 1 have done during the last fortnight. 1 will describe how I left the body, and you will then know I am telling tha truth." Mr. Evans declared that Field then made a very long statement, the first part of which dealt with his movements when he left the Air Force. Field, in the alleged statement, said that lie joined the Royal Air Force in 1923, served for six years and remained on the reserve. In June, 1935, he re-enlisted under the expansion scheme, was first at Salisbury, and then, in January of this year, went to Hendon as a storekeeper. "Officially," the alleged statement went on, "I should have resided in camp, but one night in four I stayed with a woman friend at Tooting." On March 23. Field said, ho went to the house in West Gardens, Tooting, of Mrs. McGregor, whom he had known about Id years. On March 24 lie thought lie would get out of the Air Force and he walked out of camp and went to see Mrs. McGregor. "We had a tiff and our relations afterwards became strained. She said she hoped she would not see me ' again. I said I was not going back to camp. I

"Mrs. Sutton owned a brown Pekinese dog, which was with her that evening. When Mrs. O'Connor left her Mrs. Sutton was in her usual state of health. Mrs. O'Connor went up to the West End with her husband and returned about 12.50 a.m. on April 5. She noticed that there was a light burning in the passage of Mrs. Sutton's flat, but there was no light in the front room. Mrs. Sutton was in the habit of having her meals in Mrs. O'Connor's flat, but on that Sunday morning she failed to turn up for breakfast and Mrs. O'Connor sent a little girl to Mrs. Sutton's flat. "The little girl looked through the window of the flat, and from w h,it she saw she called Mrs. O'Connor, who found Mrs. Sutton lying on her back on the bed partly undressed, with two pillows on her face." Partly Clothed. Mr. Evans added that a doctor who was called would give evidence that he found Mrs. Sutton lying with her lower limbs exposed. She had been dead for a period of about six to ten hours. There was a slight indentation on her neck which appeared to have been caused by a string of imitation pearls she was wearing. There was a deeper indentation on the right side of the larynx. Dr. Temple Gray performed a postmortem examination, and found the woman in a bad state of healthy and that a slight pressure on the windpipe would have been sufficient to cause death. In his opinion death was caused by suffocation following some pressure on the windField, continued Mr. Evans, absented himself without leave on March 24 this year. As a result of information Teceived by the police he was arrested as a deserter at West Gardens, Tooting, shortly after 12.30 a.m. on April 5. When searched lie was found to have a halfpenny m money and two boxes of matches. "The two boxes of matches, declared Mr. Evans, "are important light of Field's subsequent statement." Field was taken to Mitcham Petty Sessions on the morning of April 6, handed over to an escort from the R.A.F. and taken in a tender to Hendon. When he was going from C'lapham he told two corporals, who were in the tender with him. that he wanted to go to Scotland Yard, and that it was no good taking him to Hendon. as he would only be there a couple of hours.

At Hcnrion he again spoke to one of the corporals, and, it was alleged, said: <- I haven't seen a paper since Saturday night, yet I know there has been some trouble at Kdgeley Road. Have you reported it, because I know something about it?" Later a corporal, who had meanwhile seen a newspaper, asked Field how lie got mixed up in the C'lpham affair. Field was said to have l'O' ! : ed: "You may as well go over the boat one side or the other. I don't even know who the woman was." Seen by Police. At 0 p.m. Inspector Brown went to Hcnrion Aerodrome in connection with another matter against Field regarding some missing chcques. The inspector told him that he would be taken into custodv ill connection with the chcques, and took Jiim to Hendon police station. There lie cautioned Field again and saul: "I understand you know something about the woman found <lead at Clapham." "Yes. T -<li<l it." I'ield was alleged to hive replied. "I know al about it. I v i* fed ui> with bo.n;; short ot monry, so T'hnii-ht 1 vould tret what dough I could, ~:.i my,elf in, but when it came to ti' ' time I hadn't got the guts, so x

went to Wimbledon and, intending to do myself in, went to a chemist'n shop and purchased a niuepenny bottle of disinfectant. I then went to the library at Wimbledon and wrote to Mrs. McGregor, saying I intended to commit suicide. "'I went on to Abbey Wood and wrote another letter saying I was going to commit suicide. I was contemplating suicide, but I could not bring myself to do the act."

Field went on to say in the alleged statement that he spent one night in a hut on some allotments, and - next day went back to Tooting, got into the house by a" back window, and slept in an armchair in the kitchen. In the morning he left the house by the same way. He went on Wimbledon Common and tried to pluck up courage to drink the disinfectant, but he could not do so, and threw the bottle away. He then went to his mother's house at Sutton and 'phoned to Mrs. McGregor .asking if she would see him. He met her, but they had some words and she went home, and lie went to a place at Paddington, where his wife had been employ as a caretaker. On March 28 he went to his mother's house at Sutton, and stayed there until the following day. His mother gave him 2/ before he left. The alleged statement went on to describe how Field passed the days during the week before April 5. He said that he spent several nights in a sort of cupboard near Elmhurst Mansions in Edgeley Road. Field described how one day lie went to Sutton, where he saw his father, mother and sister, and left them at 9 p.m. and spent the night in an area at Devonshire Terrace. He spent the whole day of Friday, April 3, on Clapham Common, and slept that night in the "cupboard affair" at Elmhurst Mansions. Day of Alleged Murder. Mr. Evans said that the statement went on to deal with April 4, the day of the alleged murder. The statement said that I'ield had breakfast in .a busmen's coffee stall. He stayed in a library until X p.m., walked up and down the High Street until 1.30, and then went to a cinema. He saw two pictures. He went in there to while away the time, and stopped until 7.30. Then he came out, walked to a coffeestall and bought some doughnuts, and went to the library to cat them, staying until 9 p.m.- He next went to a coffee stall near Clapham North Station, where he stayed talking to a man, whom lie j knew us "Old George." "I stopped talking with him until 10.50 p.m.," the alleged statement continued. "j. had 2%d left. nil " Alter leaving the coffee-stall I walked to Edgeley Road, and there I saw a big woman. She was as tall as myself. lius was at 11 p.m. I contemplated talking to her. but I did not do so because she walked right by me and because I wanted to walk round a bit first. "I went down there solely to murder . .

"When I came back I saw the wpman again with another woman. This woman was of average height, dressed in a dark coat. I did not speak to them then, but when I came back on the second occasion, at about 11.15, I crossed to the right-hand side and saw the woman standing at the gate of the second or third house in Ehnhurst Mansions. She was holding a Pekingese dog in her arms. "I walked down the road a little way, and then came back, and I saw she was talking to another fellow. . I walked past to the corner of the road and stood there for about two minutes, and then walked back to her. The fellow had gone.

'She Spoke to Me.' "I stopped about five yards past her, and then she spoke to me. She said, 'It is cold out here,' and asked me what I was doing. "I asked her to put me up for the night. I wanted to find out if she had anyone else in the flat. She told me I could conic in for a time, and eventually I went in. "We went into the hall from the door of her flat. ... I followed her into the front room. The light was on, and a coal fire was burning in the fireplace." Field's alleged statement went on to describe in detail the contents of the room and told how the woman had tried to light a match to light'a cigarette, but had difficulty in doing so because the side of the matchbox was worn. Field thought that he put the matchbox into his pocket and took it away with him. He described the woman as wearing a ginger-coloured overcoat. She left the room to get some water and returned shortly afterwards. "When she returned she came to pass me, but I had my back towards her. 1 could not see what she was doing, but as I was not interested in anything sexual I did not take a great deal of notice. I suggested she should put out the light." The alleged statement went on to say that Mrs. Sutton lay down in the middle of the bed, and continued: "I put my hands round her throat and pressed for two or three minutes. She struggled a little at first and then lay still. I relaxed my grip. Then she moved her legs and I gripped her throat again. After two or three minutes she did not move again. "I put two pillows over her face because I did not want to see it. I left the flat, closing the front door behind me. I last saw the woman's right leg hanging over the side of the bed towards the fire. During the whole time she was on the bed she never spoke. "I left about 11.35 and saw two women on the opposite side of the road. "I had never seen the woman before in my life and had not the least ill intentions towards her. I just murdered her because I wanted to murder someone.

" Had Not the Guts." "I had not the puts to take my own life and I knew that by doing it I should lose my own life. "Soon afterwards the police came to my house and arrested me for desertion. Had it not been for this I would have told the police about the Claphan; business." That long statement, declared Mr. Evans, had * been corroborated in a number of details. It was coiToborated by a woman who had sold disinfectant. There was a cupboard exactly as described in the statement at Elmhurst Mansions, and evidence would be called to show that Field was at the coffce stall he had spoken of about 9 or 9.30 on the night of April 4. The two women in the road could say that they saw a man in Air Force uniform somewhere about 11 o'clock. Field's description of the room could be corroborated by police oflicers, and the dead woman was found exactly in the position that he himself had described. Inspector Halliday told the magistrate that when he went to the flat Mrs. Sutton was in the centre of the bed and was wearing a white silk blouse and green vest. There were no signs of a struggle having taken place and there was no disorder in the room. At the end of Inspector Hallidav's evidence the magistrate asked Field if he wished to apply for legal aid. Field, who had followed the evidence and the opening statement of Mr. Evans with the greatest , attention and who seemed quite unperturbed,, replied firmly, "I do, sir." The magistrate said that he would grant the application for legal aid.