"FORGING" A FINGERPRINT

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1938, Page 18

"FORGING" A FINGERPRINT

UNUSUAL DEFENCE SUCCEEDS,

A man accused of breaking into a 'tennis club pavilion, and theft, was found not guilty and discharged at Croydon Quarter Sessions, after he had demonstrated a method by which, he said,, it was possible to obtain finger-prints of another person and place them on a safe or bottle without that person's knowledge, states the' "Manchester Guardian."

The accused was David Pearce (30), of Southsea Road, Croydon. The jury, after seeing his demonstration, said they were of the opinion that the evidence was not sufficient to convict him.

Pearce produced a small mirror in court and pressed a pad of some plastic substance against a prison officer's finger, then pressed the pad on the mirror. "That," he said, "is a finger-print of this officer, and his finger has not touched the mirror."

Describing experiments he had made, Pearce said he had placed the mixture on the back of gloves and secured the finger impression of a man without his knowledge by shaking hands. A finger-print found on the neck of a bottle at the i club was stated by De-tective-Sergeant Livings to be that of Pearce. ■

Asked by the Recorder (Mr. R. F. Colam) if he was suggesting who put his finger-print on the bottle, Pearce replied, "I have an idea." Detective-Sergeant Livings stated that there had been over 500,000 identifications by finger-prints, and as far as he knew not a single error had been made. He said that Pearce's suggestions were fantastic, and that any print as described by him would immediately be detected by an expert. The police made tests which would reveal forged prints. Pearce said that the French police were1 "absolutely baffled" by the method he had described. \

A. clause in the purchase committee's report at last night's meeting of the Wellington Hospital Board stated that the Minister of Health (the Hon. P. Fraser) had approved the purchase of a respirator .("iron lung") at a cost of £195. !