BURNT-OUT CAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 45, 23 February 1939, Page 19

BURNT-OUT CAR

INSURANCE CLAIM

FALSE PRETENCES CHARGE

The burnt-out remains of a motor-car on the Rimutaka Hill were examined by a detective investigating the case against Leslie Bramwell Clifford, who appeared before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday charged with attempting to obtain the sum of £ 130 from the New Zealand insurance Company by means of a false pretence, namely, by falsely representing that he paid £175 for a motor-car whereas in fact he paid £15. After evidence had been heard Clifford, who was represented by Mr. C. J. O'Regan, pleaded guilty to the offence, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Detec-tive-Sergeant P. Doyle conducted the prosecution. ; Officers of the insurance company were called upon to give evidence, and then Detective J. G. Long described interviews which he had had with the accused. On January 20, said Detective Long, he received a complaint from the accused, alleging the theft of his motorcar from . outside his residence. After making inquiries into the alleged offence, he interviewed the accused on January 27. The accused then admitted to him that the car he had reported st6len was purchased by him from another man on January 11 for £15. He said that on January 12 a man named Leslie Wells approached him and agreed to buy the car for £175, and that Wells had given him £10 to bind the deal; also that Wells and he had arranged to insure the car, the policy to be taken in the name of Wells to save a transfer at a later date, and that Wells had given him £7 to pay the premium on the insurance policy. He said he had gone to the office •of the New Zealand Insurance Company on January 13. and had informed the company that he was Leslie Wells, and that he had paid £ 175 for the motor-car, and had taken out a comprehensive insurance policy on this car for £130. ADDRESS UNKNOWN. On verifying the registration of the car, said Detective Long, he found that it was registered in the name of Leslie Wells, the address given being in Cuba Street, and that the. transfer of the ownership was date-stamped January 11, this being the day previous to the day on which the accused alleged he had arranged to sell the car to Wells. The accused said that he had met Wells at a billiard saloon on several occasions, and that he lived in Cuba Street. He did not know where he worked or who knew him. Witness made inquiries, and found that the name of Wells was unknown at the address given. He also made inquiries at the billiard saloon, and there was no i trace of him there. ■ I On the afternoon of January 27, said witness, in company with the accused, j he inspected a burnt-out motor-car which was on the side of the road about a mile on the Featherston side of the summit of the Rimutaka Hill. The number-plates had been removed, but the accused said he was able to identify it by the fact that it had a left-hand wheel. From the position of the car witness formed the opinion that an attempt-had been made to drive it over the cliff, but the chassis had become lodged on the edge of the cliff. The car had been totally destroyed by fire, and had been burnt in the position in which he located it. On examinings the car he found a metal plate screwed to the dashboard, and the plate bore the maker's name and the chassis number, which corresponded with that of the car reported stolen by the accused. Later he interviewed the accused and showed him a copy of his statement, purporting to have been made to the insurance company, in which he said he had purchased the car for £175. Witness asked him if he had made that statement, and he said he had. On January 6 witness received a complaint from the accused in respect to the alleged theft of a motorcycle. He made inquiries and verified the fact that this motor-cycle was insured with the General Insurance Company for the; sum of £40, and that on January 6 the accused had lodged a claim with that company for the insurance. Extensive inquiries had been made through the Dominion. for this cycle, but so far it had not been traced. Bail was allowed in the sum of £50, with surety for that amount.