CRIMINAL MYSTERIES

Evening Star, Issue 19443, 29 December 1926, Page 8

CRIMINAL MYSTERIES

THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW Scotland Yard has declined to assist the* Monmouthshire police to unravel the mystery of the death of lris_ Watkins (slates “ A Criminologist,” in the ‘Daily Mail 1 ). This unusual course has doubtless been taken upon the best of grounds. The crime, if crime it bo —and many competent persons have no hesitation in describing it as a ease of murder —is more than twelve months old. All clues are cold, and at this late date llicrc is little likelihood that the cleverest of detectives could elucidate the mystery. If there had been a national detective force in this country the problem would have been solved one way or another long ago. As, it was, the Monmouthshire authorities declined to invite the assistance oi Scotland Yard, and so, unless the unexpected happens, the death of this pretty young shop girl will for ever be .shrouded in inysterv.

On the other hand, the mere lapse of time does not bring a criminal immunity from punishment for- his crime. Police'annals arc full of cases in which murderers have been brought to the gallows years after the slaying of their victims. The arm of the law is truly long—and it never wearies. Probably the most notable example of recent years is George Joseph Smith, who became infamous as the husband in the 1 Brides in the Baths ’ case. Smith murdered his first victim by drowning her in a bath in 1912, hut it was not until three years later that ho was arrested and hanged for his murders. Incidentally, the opinion has been expressed by no loss an authority than Sir Bernard Spilsbnry that if careful inquiry had been made into the earlier deaths caused by Smith his career of crime would have been cut short and the lives of two women at least saved—another argument for a national force.

Dr Crippen was another murderer who for months escaped the consequences of his crime. It was not delected until six months after its commission, but then the law moved swiftly. Major Armstrong’s wife was long buried before he was suspected of murdering her, and it may be even yet by some ebanee duo that the _ true story of the death of Iris Watkins in the little mountain stream at Blackwood will be brought to light. The police, like Micawber, are always waiting for something to turn up, for without very conclusive evidence, whether made public of not, they decline to regard'any case as closed until a final solution lias been reached.