Escaper Flushed from Empty House At Sumner

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30042, 29 January 1963, Page 12

Escaper Flushed from Empty House At Sumner

* Two men surprised the Addington prison escaper, Edward Murray Moore, in an unoccupied house at Sumner late yesterday

The men gave chase, caught the intruder, but at the time did not realise that he was Moore, and let him go. They later notified the police and a full-scale manhunt was put into operation.

News that Moore was eading for Lyttelton turned te usually quiet port into a ive of bustling activity last vening. Within an hour 30

police constables and at least as many prison .officers were on the scene. , Seven road blocks were set up. Inspector G. Tait went to Lyttelton about 8.15 p.m. and took charge of the search. Assisting him were Detective Senior-Sergeant R. B. Wilkinson, Detective-Sergeant E. Mitten, and Sergeants G. Brewer and R. D. Whales. Inspector Tait . said last evening that he was certain, the intruder was Moore because letters had been found in the room of the unoccupied house, and the intruder had been identified as Moore by one of the men who found him when a photograph of the escaper was shown to him. Among letters left behind by Moore was one he had started to write to the editor of “Truth” complaining about the depressing conditions in New Zealand gaols. The letter was unfinished. Hair Dyed Moore had dyed his hair an auburn red colour, and when last seen there were traces of dye on his arms and hands. He was wearing a brown, jersey, green shirt, charcoal trousers with fleck and black “winkle-picker” shoes.

Inspector Tait appealed to anyone who saw a man answering this description to get in touch with the police immediately. . They would particularly like to get in touch with a man, possibly a Dutchman, who gave a lift to a hitchhiker from Evans Pass to Lyttelton early last evening. Shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday two employees of a Sumner company went to a vacant house in Burgess street that was being used as a store. Inside, they found a door leading to one of the rooms shut, and investigation showed it was wedged shut with a pinch bar. One of the men started to try to move the bar so the door could be opened, and immediately there was a scuffling inside the room and the sound of the window being opened.

Gave Chase Running to another window the two men saw a man running down the street, and they gave chase. The fugitive picked up a bicycle, and the two men gave chase in a car. They stopped the bicycle about half a mile from the house.

The man said he had deserted from a ship at Lyttelton and was “putting up” in the house for a few days. "He told us a really plausible

hard-luck story,” said one of the company employees. “He said he had jumped the ship, and was without money. We felit a bit sorry for him and after a bit of discussion let him go.” When they returned to the house the men opened the door to the room and went in. They found cases of stolen food inside and immediately told the police. Moore’s hair was dyed, and he had some yellowbrown dye on his face and arms, one of the men said. When asked about this Moore said he had been handling nicotine products on board his ship and “had got the stuff all over him.” He had answered so quickly and plausibly he was believed. “There was enough food in the room to sustain a man in hiding for at least three months,” said Inspector Taiit. He added that the food appeared to have come from the truck which was converted from St. Asaph street. “We have evidence that Moore had been visited by a woman during his stay in Sumner,” said Inspector Tait when asked whether he thought Moore had received assistance from outsiders. A number of letters addressed to him were also found in the room.

At 1 a.m., the police were still concentrating their search in the Sumner-Lyttel-ton area. Inspector Tait said further investigations revealed that Moore was also in possession of a two-tone fawn and brown cardigan and a brown felt hat.

A close watch was kept on passengers boarding the in-ter-island steamer express Hinemoa, and after it sailed police started searching the 11 remaining vessels in port.

aooik iv pun. some oi sne constablea moved to Sumner, where they started house-to-houae inquiries in the vicinity where Moore was last seen. Two detectives who went to Purau earlier in the evening to . investigate a report that a man bad been seen acting suspiciously said they ted found the person concerned but it was not Moore. The road blocks were set Up oe the top of Evans Pass, at Governor* Bay, the Ferry road bridge and the Bridle Path. A watch was also kept on the entrances to the new tunnel road, and the railway tunnel.' Engine drivers were warned to keep a lookout and trains went through the tunnel at reduced speeds. Assisting the police in the manhunt were two police dogs, Buck, with its handler. Constable L. Peterson, and Gem and its beadier. Constable K. Gallagher. Escaped Nine Days Ago Moore escaped over the wall of Addington Prison with the assistance of a plank at 1.30 p.m. on Saturday. January 19. Aged 24, he was formerly a hairdresser’s assistant, and was extradited from Sydney and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on six charges of false pretences and one of theft in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court on December 21.

Moore was being held at Addington Prison awaiting trial in the Supreme Court on a charge of assault with intent to commit rape on a 10-year-old girl at Spencer Park on October 8. Four hours after Moore’s escape on January 19 a fiveton truck loaded with food was converted from premises in St. Asaph street, and later found abandoned in Opawa. Food was taken from the vehicle.