WRONG COAT CLUE

Evening Star, Issue 20421, 28 February 1930, Page 11

WRONG COAT CLUE

INNOCENT MEN IN PRISON One of the most remarkable cases of wrongful conviction in the history of British criminal, law is recalled by the will, lately published, of Mr Charles Percy, solicitor, of Alnwick, Northumberland, and once Conservative M.P. for Tynemouth and No -th Shields. _ In his will Mr Percy left as an heirloom to his son, Mr Huge James Percy, solicitor, ? Alnwick, an eagle gold seal. Tim was a vital clue in the case in which Mr Percy, sen., played a leading part. The case was that of the Erding'iam burglary and attempted murder in 1879. Two innocent men were sentenced to penal servitude for life, and had served seven years before the real culprits were discovered. Particularly remarkable were a number of coincidences which helped to fasten the guilt on the two victims. As a result of their vindication four constables were prosecuted for conspiracy to secure the conviction of innocent men. Through lack of evidence, however, a verdict of not guilty was returned. Erdlingham is a small village near Alnwick. On the night February 7, 1879, the vicarage was broken into. Mr Buckle, the seventy-seven-year-old vicar, was roused by his daughter, and in spite of his years rushed downstairs wtih a sword to defend his possessions. VICAR AND DAUGHTER WOUNDED. The vicar surprised two men in the drawing room, one of whom d. shed past him and escaped. The other fired a shotgun, seriously wounding both the courageous old vicar and his daughter. The assailant then jumped through the drawing room window on to a garden bed. Police _ investigations commenced, and various clues were found. These included a chisel used to prise open the doors, a piece of newspaper found outside the dining room, and various footprints in the grounds. The two men, who were afterwards found to be first guilty and then innocent, were then arrested. They were both poachers, and were named Branagan and Murphy. They bad been absent from their homes during the night, and the police built up a strong case against them. _ - Murphy’s fiancee, a girl named Agnes Simm, whom he ..larried after his release, played a luckless part in the case. She was asked by the police for his clothes. She had, however, found some blood and fur in the pockets of the coat he had worn, and, thinking to help him, gave the nolice a coat be- I longing to his brother-in-law, a man named Redpath. •AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE, By an amazing coincidence there was in a pocket of this piece of newspaper which fitted exactly with the piece found in the vicarage. In addition, Redpath was induced to xlentify the chisel as his property, though, in fact, it was not. Two still more amazing coincidences followed: Plaster casts made of the footprints found in the vicarage corresponded with the boots and clogs of the prisoners. A piece of fustian cloth discovered under the drawing room window a month after the burglary fitted exactly into a h-V in Brannagan’s trousers. It was seven years afterwards that it came to thp knowledge of Mr Percy,

then a young solicitor in Alnwick, that a, certain George Edgell had also been, ‘.out’’ on the night of the burglary. Inquiries followed, and it was found that another man, named Richardson, was constantly in the company of Edgell. Eventually Edgell was taxed with the crime, and made a confession. AN INVALUABLE LINK' faff THE • - case.; ;•■ : - The “eagle gold seal" 'was an invaluable piece of evidence at the • fresh trial. It had been attached to Miss Buckle’s gold watch, which ■' ad been carried off by Richardson. The watch he threw into the Tyne, hut he sold tli© seal to a jeweller, who gave evidence against him. Brannagan and Murphy were released and awarded £BOO each as compensation. They returned to Northumberland, where they lived afterwards A further romantic "ouch was:, adder < to the case through both men adopt ing trades they had learnt in prison Brannagan T i?voming a.' wheelwrighi and Murphy a baker, Edgell and Richardson were each. sentenced' tq five years’ penal servitude. .• Inspector Harkes, who'was in charg* of the police. investigations leading-to the first trial, died before the truth was revealed. According, -however, to Major Arthur Griffiths, in his book, ‘Mysteries of Police and-.Crime,’ “if was stated authoritatively that Harkes admitted that he had been wrong, but it was too late to recall the mistake."