Murder inquiry centres on car

Press, 4 June 1988, Page 3

Murder inquiry centres on car

Police are still searching for a teal blue Austin Westminster similar to the one pictured below, in connection with the killing of Mr Martin Reid in North Canterbury this week.

Detectives investigating the killing of Mr Reid, aged 27, are working on the possibility that the car was a Morris, Wolseley or Riley model. Detective Inspector Paul Johnstone, who heads the inquiry, said the police had made extensive inquiries into the background of Mr Reid, who was found dead early on Tuesday evening beside his Chevrolet Camaro car on the Garry riverbed, near Ashley Gorge.

Scattered round his body were about 30 cannabis bullets.

“We are still pursuing the theory that the murder was drug-related/’ Mr Johnstone said.

Inquiries concentrated yesterday on finding the teal blue English car seen parked behind Mr Reid’s Camaro on the riverbed on Tuesday about 3.30 p.m.

The witness, who was in the motor industry for 19 years, said the English car had two doors open, as did Mr Reid’s Camaro.

He told the police the English car was probably an Austin Westminster, although Wolseley, Morris and Riley versions of the car appear similar. The police also wanted to speak to a family gathering pine cones in the Garry riverbed on Tuesday morning. Their white and blue Falcon car was towing a trailer with

furniture. Mr Johnstone said a caravan set up at the Oxford sale yards, where a three-monthly Paddy’s market was held yesterday, brought an encouraging response. About 15 further reports were received from people who saw a car like Mr Reid’s in the Oxford area on the day of his death and the days before. The police last evening set up a confidential Christchurch telephone number, 57-393, on which people could offer information about Mr Reid’s drug activities or his death. Mr Johnstone said he would answer the calls, which could be made anonymously. The calls would not be recorded or traced.