THIEVES ATTACK TWO MEN

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27985, 4 June 1956, Page 10

THIEVES ATTACK TWO MEN

£lOOO Robbery From Liquor Store VICTIMS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 3.

Two men were battered about the head in a £lOOO robbery in the office of C. L. Innes and Company, Ltd., Khyber Pass. Auckland, about 6.15 p.m. on Saturday. They were attacked from behind as they were about to lock money in the office safe.

The men. who are both in the Auckland Hospital with concussion, are:

Mr Herbert A. Jackson, aged 54, manager of Newmarket Wines and Spirits, Ltd., a subsidiary firm of C. L. Innes and Company. His address is 64 Orakei road. Re-

muera. Mr Raymond Ashdown, aged 42. a store assistant at Wines and Spirits, Ltd., of 3 Selkirk road, Mount Albert.

The police believe the men were beaten up with short iron bars. Mr Jackson was badly bruised about the left side of the head, and his right eye was blackened in the struggle. Mr Ashdown had seven stitches put in a gash in the back of his head. From their hospital beds today. Mr Jackson and Mr Ashdown described the attack and robbery.

“It happened about 6.15 p.m., I think.” said Mr Jackson. “After business at the spirits store, I usually collect the day’s takings, and v. ith another member o r the staff, generally Mr Ashdown, drive about 200 yards un Khyber Pass to the Innes office. There is no safe at the spirits store. “Terrific Thud on Head’* “Yesterday, I opened the front door of Innes and Company and led the wav through to the office safe at the back of the building.” said Mr Jackson. “We did not bother to turn on the lights in the office. Mr Ashdown was holding the bag with the money •tnd I bent down in front of the safe to onen the door, and then it happened “I got a terrific thud on the head, and the next thing I remember was being violently ill on the floor. How long I was there I don’t exactly know, but somehow I crawled on all fours to a house telephone, and got through to the spirits store. I gave the chap on the other end of the line a garbled version of what happened, and he called the police,” said Mr Jackson. ‘‘lt happened just as Mr Jackson has stated.” said Mr Ashdown. ‘‘They got me first from behind, and then went for him. The first crack I got dropped me to the ground, but did not put me out. “I saw Mr Jackson go down, and thought. ‘They've got him, too.’ Slowly I started to drag myself up, and I got it again.” said Mr Ashdown. “Strangely enough. I’ve a hazy recollection of looking at a woman's feel jus+ before they beat me down again.

“Blood just poured from the wound in my head.” Mr Ashdown said. ‘‘l was lying faro down in a large pool on the office floor. I got over to M r Jackson just as he was coming to. and he crawled away to the 'phone for heln.”

Mr Jackson said the thieves must have studied his Saturday evening routine of locking away the money. The police believe that the thieves were waiting in the building when Mr Jackson and Mr Ashdown arrived. At the back of the Innes premises is a yard surrounded by a 12-foot-high brick wall, tonpod with barbed wire. The thieves threw a grey blanket over the barbed wire, and then scaled the wall to enter the building at the rear. They left by the front door.