INQUIRY INTO FARM DEATH

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31523, 10 November 1967, Page 1

INQUIRY INTO FARM DEATH

Robbery Motive Discounted

Detectives investigating the murder of Robert James Richards, half owner of the Mount Hutt station, do not think robbery 7 was the motive. They have recovered more than $lOO from the homestead where Mr Richards’s battered and burned body was found by firemen early on Wednesday morning.

This sum was more than the amount Mr Richards’s housekeeper believed to be in the house. Detectives do not think that any money or valuables were stolen.

The housekeeper, Miss A. J. Smith, aged 60, escaped through her bedroom window after seeing an intruder and being frightened by the noise he made. Before she left the house Miss Smith tried to turn on her bedroom light but the power had been cut off. The oil-fired central heating plant in the homestead had not been used for a month before the fire. The tap on the fuel line frerh the storage tank at the rear of the house to the heating plant on floor level in a bedroom at the western end of the house had been turned off. But during the fire it was found that the tap was on, and it was then turned off. Later during the fire firemen chopped the fuel line at two points. Mr Richards suffered severe head wounds inflicted with a blunt weapon. It has been found that he was unconscious but still alive when engulfed by the fire. The Mount Hutt station is part of the estate of the murdered man’s parents, the late Mr and Mrs L. R. Richards Estimated to be worth about 5400.000, the estate is administered by the Public Trust and the beneficiaries were Mr R. J. Richards and his brother, Mr B. L. Richards, who farm about 600 acres at Winchmore. 15 Detectives A team of 15 detectives under Detective Inspector M. T. Churches, of Christchurch, has interviewed more than 70 persons. Detective Inspector Churches said the police were anxious to obtain information about any person or vehicle seen in the area of Methven, Mount Hutt, Rakia Gorge and Mount Sommers between midnight on Tuesday and 3 a m on Wednesday They had been giv»n information on this aspect of their inquiry but wanted more. “We have several lines of inquiry," he said. The police were looking for the weapon used to inflict the injuries to Mr Richards’s head but were making no particular appeal to the public for help in that matter. “Our search of the homestead could take a few more days,” he said. Yesterdav the Christchurch Fire Board’s inspecting officer (Mr J. W. Taylor), Mr L. Wilkinson, of the D.5.1.R., Christchurch, and an engineer of the firm which installed the heating plant at the homestead when it was being built in 1963, inspected the house The manager of Mount Hutt station, Mr E. W. Lewis, said yesterday that reports of firearms being taken to the new homestead after Miss Smith had run to his home in the old homestead and reported

an intruder, were exaggerated. “When the boys went to the new house, after the police had been telephoned, they had only one .22 rifle and it was not even loaded. We took it to frighten anyone hanging around the house. The butt was used to smash a window to see if Mr Richards was in his bedroom,” said Mr Lewis. Mr Lewis has beep managing the station of just over 8000 acres for five years. The station is carrying 18,500 sheep and lambs, and 345 head of cattle, mostly breeding cows. The three-quarter bred sheep are run on the 1900 acres of flats. The cattle are run on the hill country, but there is no grazing above 2300 feet, although the station, including the Blackford lease, runs back to Mount Hutt (7180 feet). Father’s Posts Mr L. R. Richards took over the property with his brother, Mr S. E. Richards, just after the First World War. Mr L. R. Richards was a member of the Ashburton County Council for many years, and vice-president of the Methven Trotting Club. He died on the Methven racecourse at a trotting meeting in September, 1949. Mr R. J. Richards, who died on Wednesday, was well liked in the district. He was a happy man with simple tastes. He was keen on fishing and was a visitor with his father, then his mother, and later Mr Lewis, to race days, ewe fairs, and other local functions. Mr B. L. Richards has farmed at Winchmore for the last 14 years. He is married with five children. He was telephoned on Wednesday morning and helped to fight the fire. He dammed the water race when the level became too low to provide water for the firemen.