Pond Tragedy

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 9 (Supplement)

Pond Tragedy

A FTER establishing the identity ii of a man whose body was recovered from Kingsmere Pool, Putney Common, London police ruled out the possibility of foul play in connection with his death. The • man was found to have been Robert Charles Stacey, 20-year-old butcher's assistant, of Brixton, who had been missing a month. A post-mortem examination was carried out by Sir Bernard Spilsbury, and this indicated the cause of the blood and the slight injuries found about Stacey's head. The blood may have been duo to post-mortem changes, which might also account, to some extent, for the swollen state of his eyes. It was anticipated that at the inquest Sir Bernard would report that death was duo to drowning. Stacey was identified following circulation of a message seeking information from police stations regarding missing persons. It was then found that Stacey had been reported missing. He had worked at a butcher's shop in Brixton.

—• :—'<£ The pond, only 4ft Oin in depth at its deepest part, had been dragged for five hours' in the hope, of finding a clue that would lead to the man's identity. Chinf Constable Howell and Chief Inspector r Donaldson, of Scotland Yard, watched , the operations. Stacey's mother stated that he dis- * appeared after leaving to go to work, r "He left home with his brother, with 1 whom he usually cycled to work," she . said. "Robert went part of the way to a his shop that morning, and then told his brother, 'Go on. I will follow.' That cl was the last we heard of him. "I can think of no reason for tho tragedy." With the help of the police, the family ■\ had searched the.district for weeks, and j the missing man's 23-year-old brother Sidney had ridden a tandem bicycle s through lonely parts of Surrey in quest o of information. 0 "Robert was friendly with Miss Evelyn a Daniels, of Clapliam," a member of tho family stated. "They had known each other for about two years, and, from t what Robert had said, they were hoping 3 to get married. "They had had no quarrel, and when Robert disappeared, Sidney—with whom Robert and Miss Daniels had often gone 1 cycling with another girl—decided to try r to find him. * "Both Sidney and the other girl havo r been out by tandem many times during 1 the past three weeks to Robert's favourite haunts."