Moves To Gain Custody Of Bradley Children

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29342, 22 October 1960, Page 13

Moves To Gain Custody Of Bradley Children

(Rec. 10 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 21. Helen Bradley, the daughter of Stephen Leslie Bradley, is now a ward of the Victorian Supreme Court and attempts are being made by Mrs Magda Bradley’s former husband to gain custody of his two sons, now in Aden with their mother.

Stephen Leslie Bradley is now held in Colombo pending extradition proceedings from New South Wales in connexion with the murder of Graeme Thome, the eight-year-old Sydney kidnapping victim. Helen’s maternal grandfather. Dr. Franz Michael Laszlo. is in Aden seeking her custody from Mrs Magda Bradley, her stepmother. Yesterday Helen's grandmother. took action which resulted in the Victorian Supreme Court becoming Helen's guardian.

A lawyer explained that in proceedings where it was sought to take a child from one country to Smother, a Court would not act unless the child was a ward of the Court in the country to which it sought to bring her. He said that the procedure was a time-honoured one in British courts for the purpose of initiating wardship proceedings. It had been adopted not long ago in England when a divorced woman took action to stop her husband, who had the custody of the children, from taking them to New Zealand.

Mrs Bradley continued on towards London in the liner Himalaya after her husband was taken off the ship at Colombo, but left the ship at Aden when the Aden

Supreme Court ordered her to deliver Helen into the custody of the Court to await the outcome of the custody hearing sought by Dr. Laszlo. Helen Bradley’s mdther—Stephen Brad, lev's first wife—is dead. In Sydney. George Wittrhan. Mrs Bradley's first husband, told reporters he would wait until .the “present extradition problems” were settled before ateinpting to gain custody of his two sons. Peter, aged 13. and Robert, five. Wittman, who gave evidence for the police in the Sydney hearing for a warrant for Bradley's extradition, said he did pot know his sons had been taken out of Australia until he read of Bradley's arrest in Colombo. He said he would try to persuade Mrs Bradley to return the boys to him because the police had told him that Mrs Bradlev had not broken any custody laws in leaving Australia. Detective-Sergeant Brian Doyle, of the New South Wales Criminal Investigation Branch, left Sydnev today by air for Colombo. He was carrying with him a large suitcase containing depositions of the witnesses tn the Sydney hearing on B--»dle->-and other documents, including a warrant for Bradley’s arrest on a charge of murder.