Police Puzzled By Missing Sock

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 1

Police Puzzled By Missing Sock

' A missing sock is puzzling detectives inquiring into the death of a young man from Gore who fell 40 feet to his death from a third-storey fire escape in Christchurch last Saturday night. .

When the body of Mr M. J. Wilson, aged 19, of Freshford, No. 7 R.D., Gore, was found on Sunday there was no shoe or sock on one foot.

Mr Wilson, who was attending a course at Lincoln College, fell from the fire escape at the rear of Pannells shoe store and landed on the roof of the first floor of another building. Death was instantaneous. His shoe was found on the landing of the fire escape from which he fell. The sock has not been found so far.

Mr Wilson’s shoe might have been wrenched off when he fell. A bolt in the rail of the fire escape landing gave way. Mr Wilson might have been leaning against it, and might have fallen because the rail gave way.

Detectives find it difficult to find a reason why his sock came off. Mr Wilson broke a water pipe in his fall, and the water poured on to the roof between the time of his fall (believed to be about 6.30 p.m. on Saturday) and the discovery of his body (late on Sunday afternoon). A downpipe, six inches in diameter, leads from the roof to a drain without a grill and the sock may have been washed away by the water.

The police consider that Mr Wilson’s death was caused purely by misadventure. They have no evidence of any other person being involved in his death. It has now been established that Mr Wilson was with companions up to 5.30 p.m. on Saturday. His movements after leaving his companions are unknown. Inquiries are continuing. The police have not yet obtained the pathologist’s post-mortem report.