MURDER ALLEGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 30, 4 August 1939, Page 10

MURDER ALLEGED

DEATH OF WOMAN

THE CLAVERLEY CASE

HUSBAND CHARGED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day,

Months of intense police investigation into the disappearance of Mrs. Harriet Jane Patience, whose body was subsequently found on a beach near the Claverley Public Works Camp, reached a climax in the Magistrate's Court this morning when her husband, Arthur John Patience, faced a charge of murder. Patience, who is aged 4G, was described as a labourer and a native of Australia. He was charged that on or about October 4, 1938, at Claverley, he murdered Harriet Jane Patience. Of dark and stocky appearance, with broad shoulders, Patience stepped into the dock wearing a dark blue striped suit. Immediately the charge was read. Chief ' Detective Dunlop asked for a remand to August 17. I Patience was arrested late yesterday afternoon, said the Chief Detective, and this would probably be the first adjournment. Mr. R. A. Young, who appeared for Patience, consented to the adjournment. He made no application for bail. Mrs. Patience was in her fifty-ninth year. She lived with her husband at Claverley Public Works camp, from which she disappeared on October 4, 1938. She is reported to have been seen about 8 o'clock that night covering up a wood pile at the hut to protect it from rain. A party of nine from the Christchurch Police 'Force was sent to Claverley on October 24 to search for Mrs. Patience. They began extensive digging over rough country about the camp near the sea coast. Their numbers were increased till later a bulldozer was brought in to assist them in digging into the cliffs and turning over spoil thrown from railway works. As well as digging on the beach, police combed the back country near the settlement and dragged swamps and streams. Their activities by January had extended as far as 20 | miles from Claverley. A patrol of the sea coast from the I mouth of the Conway River to Kai- ! koura, a distance of about 30 miles, was conducted daily for a long period, as it was thought that the body of Mrs. Patience might be washed ashore from [the sea. On January 20 it was announced that the police search would 1 be abandoned. The men were withId'rawn from digging and patrolling operations, but inquiries were continued.

On July 20 of this year the body of a woman was found on Taratuhi beach, about two miles north of Claverley. It was subsequently identified to the satisfaction of the Coroner at an inquest opened in Christchurch as the body of Mrs. Patience. Evidence of identification was given at the inquest by Mrs. Patience's mother, her son, and her niece.