U.K. Inquires About Man In Polish Gaol

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29742, 8 February 1962, Page 14

U.K. Inquires About Man In Polish Gaol

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, February 7. Mr Arthur Raymond Wilson, the 36-year-old New Zealand flight engineer who has been imprisoned in Poland since the middle of January, was mentioned by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) at his press conference tonight. Mr Holyoake said the British authorities have been most helpful in the matter and had met promptly requests for information about the nature of the charges that might be preferred against Mr Wilson. “We have been given some information about the maximum penalties that might be imposed by way of fine or imprisonment which in our opinion are inordinately extreme penalties. “We have told the Polish authorities of the comparatively much lighter penalties applied in this country and have pressed for recognition of that fact,” said Mr Holyoake. Mr Holyoake added that up to date the Government had not been asked to find bail. News that Mr Wilson’s trial date ha<j not y*t been fixed by the Polish authorities came as a surprise to his parents, Mr and Mrs A. E Wilson, of Havelock North. Earlier tn the week a telephone message they had received had indicated that their son’s trial was to commence yesterday Mr Wilson said the telephone call was

indistinct and that he must have misheard the message. Mr Wilson’s brother, Mr L. R. Wilson, said in Wellington today: “He is being held on bail of £l5OO, and the Polish police say if he is prepared to pay it they will allow him to break bail and go. This is a straight-out demand for ransom. “There has been no suggestion of a trial date being set. That is our main complaint Whether he is innocent or guilty, he should be brought to trial, and would be under British law" Mr Wilson's parents received a letter this week from their daughter-in-law who is in London awaiting her husband's release. She said that her husband’s airline had authorised payment if a fine was imposed by the Polish Court. She also said it was believed that her husband had struck a security policeman. Mr Wilson sen., said this morning that he knew of a demand for £l5OO bail for his son but did not know that the police bad suggested he could “break" bail if the money was forthcoming.