AN ARREST.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19064, 28 July 1927, Page 8

AN ARREST.

BURWOOD MURDER CHARLES BOAKES CHARGED WITH CRIME. REMANDED IN CUSTODY. After exactly six weeks of investigations into a case which threatened to baffle the police, DetectiveSergeants J. B. Young and J. Bickerdike arrested Charles William Boakes at his residence yesterday morning, and later he was charged in the Lower Court with the murder of Ellen Gwendoline Isobel Scarff on June 15th last at Burwood. The arrested man is 37 years of age, ,a New Zealander, and lately he has been employed in Christchurch as a taxi-driver for a City firm. He resides at 22 Windsor terrace. Boakes is a married man with two children, and it is stated that at one time he was employed, by the father of the murdered girl, and that he had known her for many years. Five or six years ago he kept a store at Rakaia. When Boakes appeared in the Magistrate's Court before Mr H. P. Lawry, S.M., he did not seem to be affected in any manner during the few moments he was in the dock, and after having been charged, he was taken to the police station, leaving the Court in the charge of detectives, and hiding his face from the photographers who were at the gate. Boakes is a tall, cleanshaven man with a fair complexion. The charges were that on the 15th day of June, 1927, at Burwood, near Christchurch, he murdered Ellen Gwendoline Isobel Scarff; and that on or about May 16th, 1927, at Christchurch, he unlawfully supplied a noxious thing, to wit, ergot, to Ellen Gwendoline Isobel Scarff, knowing that the same was intended to be unlawfully used or .employed. Mr A. W. Brown .appeared for the Crown, and Mr C. S. Thomas for the accused. As soon as the charges were read Mr Brown applied for a remand, to which Mr Thomas raised no objection, and Boakes was remanded to appear in the Lower Court on Thursday, August 4th. History of the Crime. The body of the murdered girl was found in the broom and scrub a few yards off Lake Terrace road, Burwood, at midday on June 15th, by Eric Mugford, a boy who had gone into the area to look for his father's cows. The skull had been savagely battered by a spanner, which was found later in a bush, a few yards away. She was lying on ' her back .fully dressed, and her hat and coat were nearby. Also, within reach, were toilet requisites neatly wrapped in brown paper, indicating that the girl proposed making a journey.* The ground round about was splashed,, with blood. In the evening the girl was identified at the morgue by her father, Mr Walter Scarff, of Thorrington street, Cashmere. A few days after the finding of the body many persons were interrogated, Boakes being among them. As _ time went on and there was no indication of an immediate arrest, questions were asked by the public, who were not acquainted with the difficulties faced by the police, and a reward of £250 was offered by the Commissioner of Police for information that would lead to a conviction in connexion with the crime. Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, carried out a post-mortem examination of the body of the murdered girl, and the result of his investigations will not be made public until the inquest is resumed. The inquest was opened only for purposes of identification, and adjourned sine die. It is not expected that it will be resumed for some days yet. As soon as the murder was notified to the police, detectives began their difficult task of tracing the perpetrator. Several clues of varying importance were found, including the blood-stain-ed spanner, and a blood-soaked military overcoat, and information of some value was received when it was established that the girl had intended to travel north. For a few days before her death she had stayed at the Federal Hotel, on the day before the finding of her dead body she had left and had deposited her luggage at the tram shelter in Cathedral square. Pnrr to her stay at the hotel, Miss Scarff was employed at the residence of Mrs Derisley Wood, Cashmere, as a domestic servant. The detective staff had many difficulties to contend with, notably the absence of the girl's bag, which was said to contain letters and photographs of importance. Any clue that could have any possible connexion with the crime was carefully investigated; and many of them proved useless.