EXTORTION BY THREAT

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27463, 24 September 1954, Page 16

EXTORTION BY THREAT

ACCUSED ADMITS CHARGE (New Zealand press Association) WELLINGTON, September 22. A. 29-year-old Australian, said by the police to have a record for blackmail, extortion, and convictions for posing as a detective in his own country, appeared in the Magistrate’s Court today charged with extorting £l5O by threat. He is Douglas Lee, alias Burkett The police said he had been in New Zealand for only four weeks on a holiday. Detective-Sergeant A. I. Knapp prosecuting, told Mr J. B. Thomson, S.M., that the complainant in the case went to a public convenience in Wellington, where he was approached by the accused, who made an indecent proposition. The proposition was met with “a degree of acquiescence.” When the pair left the convenience the accused told the complainant he was a detective, asked him how much money he had in the bank, and told him that if he gave the money to a charity he could get a reduction in sentence for him. The complainant drew the money from the bank and gave it to Lee.

The accused later tried to do the same with another man, but the police were informed.

The Magistrate remanded Lee till Monday and asked for a probation officer’s report. The accused pleaded guilty to the