MAN BURNED TO DEATH

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28987, 31 August 1959, Page 10

MAN BURNED TO DEATH

Fire In Police Station Cells

(New Zealand Press TAUPO, August JO.

A man was burned to death fa a fire in the wooden cell block of the Taupo police station shortly before midnight on Saturday. Although the Taupo fire brigade answered the alarm immediately the man, who had been arrested earlier in the evening, was when he was found by firemen. He was

John Phillips, aged 30, single, a Ministry of Works employee at the Wairakei geothermal power project

Constable B. Main was returning from a patrol at 11.32 pa when he saw smoke coming from the cell block. He called the brigade, who were at the station celebrating the arrival of a new fire engine. According to the police Mr Phillips was arrested after a disturbance at the Wairakei Hotel on Saturday evening.

Firemen who broke through the roof of the cell block to extinguish the fire, found Mr Phillips in the corner of the cell nearest the door. The interior of the cell was charred by the intense heat. In Wellington tonight the Commissioner of Police (Mr W. S. Brown) said he deeply regretted Mr Phillips’ death. “While there is always a fire hazard in wooden cells, full inquiries will be made regarding the origin of this blaze, and also whether it could have been prevented,” he said. “A pathologist made a postmortem examination today and first time tomorrow, Monday, the Government Analyst will examine the burnt-out building and the electrical installations will be looked at by an electrical inspector.”