Murder investigation uncovered fraud

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 4

Murder investigation uncovered fraud

Detectives investigating the murder of a man, whose mutilated body was found in a High Street upholstery shop, discovered that a man he had befriended had defrauded him, Mr Justice Hardie Boys was told in the High Court yesterday. His Honour jailed Ernest James Brown, aged 46, a prison inmate, for 18 months on four charges of forging National Bank cheques in the name of Robert William McTague, and two charges of using a Post Office Savings Bank passbook with Intent to defraud.

Brown pleaded guilty to the charges in the District Court and was committed to the High Court for sentence. '

He and Kelly Mason, aged 26, have been charged with the murder of Mr McTague, the coowner of the Mr Tack Upholstery business, on July 11.

As Brown is already serving 18 months imprisonment imposed on September 17 on charges of theft of firearms worth $3OOO, obstructing the police and driving while disqualified, his Honour decided that the new term would begin yesterday. The police statement said that Brown had been living with Mr McTague at his business premises

known as Mr Tack Upholsterers in High Street. Brown had been getting an unemployment benefit and assisted Mr McTague in running the business. Because Mr McTague suffered from dyslexia, a. learning disorder, he had great difficulty in running the business efficiently in bookkeeping. Brown assisted him in keeping records and making payments. On Friday, July 11, Mr McTague was found murdered in his workshop. Detectives investigating the crime found cheques taken from his account book had been misappropriated and fraudulently cashed.

When Brown was interviewed he admitted forging Mr McTague’s name on the cheques, three of which he deposited in his own Post Office account.

Then he made two withdrawals totalling $7OO from his account on the day - the deposits were made.

He was able to do that as the cheques purported’ to be for wages so that they could be withdrawn without being cleared, the police statement said. For Brown, Mr Philip Hall said that only $7OO was involved. Brown had been in custody since July 12 on a charge of murder.

The fraud offences were committed before Mr McTague’s death. Rightly or wrongly, Brown believed that Mr McTague owed him money for wages and work done.

Had these offences been before the Court when Brown was sentenced in September it would have been unlikely that he would have been jailed for more than 18 months.

Reparation was out of the question, and Mr Hall asked that a concurrent prison term be imposed. Mr David Saunders, for the Crown, said that these were separate offences from those on which Brown had been sentenced in September, and submitted that an additional jail term should be imposed. At the time the offences were committed Mr McTague had befriended Brown who had lodgings in the shop and was given work as a form of rehabilitation, Mr Saunders said.

“Clearly these were mean thefts from a man whose disabilities rendered him very vulnerable and who had put his trust in you,” said Mr Justice Hardie Boys when imposing an 18-month jail term on Brown.