CONSTABLE KILLED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 39, 15 February 1945, Page 8

CONSTABLE KILLED

BUT MADE ARREST

TWO MURDERS ALLEGED

O.C. SYDNEY, Feb. 9. "What company a man gets into! I did the King Street murder." This statement, said Detective W. C. Williams, of Orange, at an inquest there, was made to him by Cyril Norman, 32, alias Thomas Couldrey, who has been charged with two murders. The inquest concerned the death of Constable Eric George Bailey, 38, who was shot outside the Exchange Hotel, Blayney, on January 12. The coroner, Mr. G. Thompson, committed Norman for trial at the Central Criminal Court, Sydney, next month, on a charge of having murdered Constable Bailey. Norman was remanded to Central Police Court, Sydney, on February 21, on charges of having murdered Maurice Joseph Hannigan, manager of Cowles and Dunn Pty., Ltd., gunsmiths, of King Street, Sydney, on January 9, and of having stolen'£l64, six revolvers, and ammunition, the property of Cowles and Dunn. Mr. H. J. Cunningham, Public Solicitor's Office, who appeared for Norman, objected to admission at the inquest of any evidence relating to the King Street murder. The prosecutor, Sergeant Briese, of Sydney, submitted that the revolver which was alleged to have bean used to shoot Constable Bailey, a colt .32, was listed on the gun-dealer's register of Cowles and Dunn, and that certain evidence was therefore admissible as being necessary to prove something at issue. The coroner upheld this view. Tests With Revolver It was stated in evidence that, of three other automatic small arms found in Norman's luggage at ihe Blayney Hotel, two were on Cowles and Dunn's register and the third was on the police register as belonging to John Barber, of Trangie. It was also stated that Norman had admitted that all four weapons, and two others which he had given away, had been stolen from the King Street shop.

Sergeant A. E. Brown, ballistics expert, said that the bullet recovered from Constable Bailey's body had similar markings to bullets fired subsequently from the revolver alleged to have been used by Norman. Constable J. S. Gradv, of Blavnev, said in evidence that he had'"been called to Constable Bailey's assistance on the night of the shooting. Constable Bailey was sitting on the kerb, supported by Wallace Edward Dibben, of Sydney. Norman, dressed in an American Service uniform and handcuffed, was lying on the footpath 3ft from Bailey. Bailey said: "He has shot me. Don't let him get away. I had a go. I didn't squib it." Alleged Admission Detective W. C. Williams said that Norman, when interviewed at Orange Base Hospital on January 13, said he had. shot Bailey because he did not want the guns and ammunition in his luggage to be discovered. When interviewed on January 17 and questioned in connection with the ; murder of Hannigan, Norman had admitted, said Detective Williams, that all the guns were stolen from Cowles and Dunn. He added that he had shot Bailey because he knew that if these weapons were found he would be "in trouble."

Mervyn Oliver Parsons, labourer, of Blayney, said that he had been associated with Norman until the end of November, 1944. He next saw Norman at 5 p.m. on January 12 in Blayney. Norman showed him a revolver.: He was fairly drunk, and made no mystery of having the gun. At the conclusion of evidence Norman, speaking in a quavering voice, paid a tribute to the bravery of Constable Bailey. "If it was any fault of mine, I am sorry," he said.