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Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 7

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BODY IN HARBOUR

THE WARDROBE CASE

A CRIMINAL RECORD

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, July 2.

Although the discovery of the body of William Arthur Scott in Sydney. Harbour on Monday ended the police search for the man they wished to interview concerning the death .; of Mabel Patricia Goodman, found strangled and locked in the wardrobe-of a residential bedroom, the motive for the crime is still the subject of irivestiga? tion. .'■..•■ .

Scott was born in Glasgow, and ;in the description of him circulated by: the police throughout Australia, and New Zealand, it was stated' that: Ms previous association with the police in Sydney, South Australia, and New Zealand resulted in official records being kept of his finger-prints, a scar on:.his throat, said to have been self-inflicted, and other scars on his left knee,arid right hand. When the detectives searched the room after the body" of the woman was found, a beer bottle which had not been opened was found in the room. Finger-print experts discovered marks on the bottle which tallied with the finger-prints they held of Scott. This fact, together with^a photograph obtained on an order card :Crom a street photographer found in the room, and which in every way resembled Scott, prompted the police to issue a warrant for the arrest of Scott; charging him with murder. • The police record of Scott shows that he was convicted in New Zealand for various offences, including being ah idle and disorderly person, • and theft—the latter in Dunedin in-Octo-ber, 1929, when he was sentenced to" three months' imprisonment.' In": Adelaide, in November, 1929, he was charged with attempting to commit suicide by cutting his throat, and for this he was bound over. He also served sentences of three months in Adelaide for larceny as a bailee,:-and six months ior unlawfully using a motor-car.. MAY HAVE JUMPED FROM BRIDGE. ; • .Mabel Goodman died on June 14, ai : though her body was not discovered until June 19. It is surmised that as soon as Scott learned from the newspapers of the discovery of the, body, he committed suicide. Scott's" body had thus been in the water throughout the time that a continent-wide manhunt was in progress. It was the first occasion in four years that a photograph and description of a wanted man had been released to the Press for publication. The display of the poster outside' a city theatre was an innovation in crime detection in Sydney. Scott's face was damaged beyond recognition, and there were certain circumstaiices which suggested that death was not due to drowning. Detectives formed the opinion that the man jumped from the Harbour Bridge. One of the man's thumbs was removed by the police, and was handed to the fingerprint branch of the C.1.8. The skin was not in a condition to permit an exact print to be taken. Of three keys found in Scott's clothing, one was the key of the bedroom which was identified by the proprietress of the residential, another was the key to the wardrobe in which Miss- Goodman's body was found, and the third opened a trunk in the room believed by the police to have been owned by Scott. : : . •

In' the description, the police circulated for the apprehension of Scott they said-he .was addicted. ,to _drink.. Beer was found in the room which he booked at the residential. The police report also alleged ' that Scott would impose on charitable institutions, including ministers of religion of all denominations, but detectives are of the opinion that robbery was not the motive for, the killing of Miss 1 Goodman. It is surmised that Scott; spent his last money in entertaining! the woman, and after reaching his room a quarrel took place during which Scott struck her on the head with the bottle of beert Then, the detectives think, Scott became distracted and strangled the woman. Hejocki <ed her body in the wardrobe and left the residential.

After his sentences in .; Adelaide*. Scott went to Melbourne, where A'he married. There was domestic trouble: fend Scott tramped to Sydney, where he arrived about two months ago. Divorce proceedings were instituted against him, and the papers were to be served ]ast;Monday—he was then already dead. . ■ ' . ■ .:

Mabel Goodman was last permanent-; ly employed in'the establishment of the then Governor-General,. Sir Isaac Isaacs, at Canberra, as a housemaid, having secured that position in 1935. She came to Sydney to have an injury treated, and did not return to Canberra, taking casual employment as a ■waitress in Sydney, where she had a relative.