FOUR YEARS' GAOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 96, 20 October 1937, Page 20

FOUR YEARS' GAOL

FORGER OF £5 NOTES

FORMER POLICEMAN

INVOLVED SON IN CRIME

Charles Alfred Remmers, carpenter and labourer, aged 48, a former member of the City of London Police Force and the New Zealand Police Force, was sentenced to four years' hard labour by Mr. Justice Reed in the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon on two charges of forging Reserve Bank of New Zealand £5 notes, which had been passed in Wellington and Auckland last Christmas. His Honour said it was a shocking thing that the prisoner should have led his son to assist him in the crime, \^|iich, was regarded by the Legislature as one ofthe most serious in the calendar. Remmers's son was sentenced to two years Borstal detention for uttering notes in Wellington, appearing at the first criminal session this year. The case for the Crown was conducted by Mr. W. H. Cunningham. Detective N. J. McPhee said the prisoner was late of London. He was educated at the Stanley Science and Art Centre L.C.C. School, and was a cycle mechanic before he joined the City of London Police Force on September 3, 1908. He remained in the Force until April 18, 1912, and in September of the same year joined the New Zealand Police Force, serving as a constable until January 24, 1914. THEFTS AS CONSTABLE. While a constable he was involved in a series of thefts and one ■ charge of breaking and entering. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for breaking and entering, and eighteen months' imprisonment on each of six charges of theft. After serving his term Remmers was apparently engaged as a labourer and builder, and in 1931 opened a motordealer's business in Taranaki Street. He was thus engaged for a short time only, during which he became involved in a number of crimes. He was subsequently charged on four counts of forgery, four of uttering, four of attempted uttering, one of attempted false pretences, and one of conspiracy. He was convicted of all the offences except conspiracy and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment on each charge. He was discharged from prison on April 5, 1933, and drew sustenance for a time before taking employment as a labourer and carpenter. When the police searched the prisoner's home last Christmas Remmers was found to be in Auckland. Forged notes were passed in Auckland and Wellington, and the prisoner's son was charged with five counts of uttering, for which he was sentenced to two years' detention in a Borstal institution. The prisoner could not be traced until last July, as he had been workins in the back country* at Dannevirke under the name of F. Martin. He was arrested on July 22. POSED AS CLERGYMAN. Referring to the prisoner's previous conviction for forgery. Detective McPhee said Remmers called himself the Rev. Charles Alfred Renner, and also the Rev. Harold Harris, of Taihape. He forged signatures to promissory notes, some of which were acted Honour (to the prisoner): Would you like to ask the detective any ques-j tions? .. . _i, i Remmers: No, your Honour, it is all, quite true. ~ , . , "You seem to have decided to follow a career of crime," said his Honour. "What is worse, and what I really cannot understand a man of any decent feeling doing, you led your son into it, too. You got him. after his training in the technical school, to assist in forging these documents. That is a shocking thing to do. "I suppose you are aware that you have been found guilty of an offence regarded by the Legislature as one of the - most serious crimes that can be committed, and one for which you are liable to be sentenced to imprisonment for life. I would also point out to you that you have qualified to be declared a habitual criminal. I am not going to sentence you to life or declare you a habitual criminal, but you must be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. You will be sentenced to four years' imprisonment With hard labour on each charge, the sentences to be concurrent."