“FLYING FORGER”

Evening Star, Issue 21717, 11 May 1934, Page 13

“FLYING FORGER”

POST OFFICE FRAUDS LONG CHASE BY POLICE A clever young forger, who possesses the doubtful distinction ot being the nrst criminal in England to charter an aeroplane in order to escape when the police were hot on his trail, has at last oeen brought to justice in Devonshire, He was ••• wanted ” by police Til ah parts of the country lor an audacious series of frauds, but time after time no gave them tne slip. It was a Plymouth detective who nnalJy put an ehd to his exploits. “ A dangerous criminal ” was the description applied to nun by the authorities, and tne judge passed sentence of twenty-one months’ uard labour. It was before Mr Justice MacKinnon at Exeter Assizes that the police revealed the amazing exploits of Francis Deakin,. aged twenty-nine, described as a sigmvriter, a native of Birmingham, who-pleaded guilty to nine charges of forging Post Office Savings Bank withdrawals at Plymouth, and desired that 124 similar offences should be taken into consideration. Deakin’s name appeared in the calendar at Derek Grey, one of several aliases. He had been convicted as Graham Baker arid Frank Talbot, and was wanted in many parts of the country when the astuteness of a Plymouth detective led to his arrest. Detective Gummer, who is an old international Rugby forward, was walking along a main street in Plymouth one morning in December when he ' saw Deakin with a fashionablydressed woman. The officer recognised the man as being “wanted” in connection with Port Office forgeries. Bluntly he told Deakin that he answered the official description. ATTEMPT AT BLUFF. Deakin tried a game of bluff, declaring that he lived in Cornwall and had come to Plymouth with his wile to see his solicitor, whose name he gave. The detective told him that he must accompany him to the police station, wheieup Deakin turned to the woman and remarked : “ My dear, this man is accusing me of some Post Office frauds. Of 1 course, I know nothing'about then), but 1 will go with him and'clear the matter up. You go on home, artel 1. will rejoin you soon.” Deakin walked quietly for a lew hundred yards, when he suddenly struck 'the officer, knocking him down. Two civilians came to the rescue, and Deakin was safely lodged in the police station. At the Assizes he abandoned his attitude of injured innocence, pleaded' hard for leniency, and assured the judge - of his intention to lead ail honest life in future. ■ Mr Patrick Devlin, who prosecuted, explained that Deakin’s method was to open a Savings Bank account with a deposit of 10s, and to leave this genuine entry unaltered except to change the date. He then blade a number ot fictitious entries to give the book a nlore convincing appearance. It was necessary frir him to forge the date stamp of the post office, and this he did with a pair of compasses and rubber figures; progress of crime. “ His progress throughout the countryside,” declared counsel, “ reveals him to be a criminal of the most dangerous and resourceful type; He is not unversed in the ways of crime, and he only finished his last sentence on October 7. Shortly afterwards he began operating in the London area, where there were twenty-two fraudulent withdrawals. About the same time he visited Folkestone and Tonbridge, and in November he was in Exeter, where he had nine sums. “ The same day he left for Bristol, and during the afternoon hired a taxicab to drive him to ’a number of post offices at which he desired to open accounts. He opened''accounts at eighteen Offices, and on the following, day he began a tour of collection. At the fifth office which he visited' the postmistress suspected the genuineness of the entries in the deposit book.” Counsel 1 related 1 how Deakin took fright and bolted from the office. Chartering an aeroplane, he made for Cardiff, where he effected one withdrawal. On the same day he appeared at Worcester, where he made eighteen withdrawals. Journeying to Birmingham on the following day. his- first visit to a post office aroused suspicion, as his description had been circulated by that time. SUSPECT SENSES DANGER. The postmistress endeavoured to detain him in conversation while her husband telephoned for the -police, hut Deakin sensed danger and vanished. He was traced to a train which' had Jett for Eustori,' but on’ arrival • thrive the waiting police found that he had given them the slip by breaking the journey at Covrintry.: He lay low for a tune after that, but on December 6 he was making fraudulent withdrawals in London. Nest he visited Plymouth, Torquay, Paignton, and the surrounding district, and was eventually arrested by Detective Gummer. Superintendent Hutchings, ot the Plymouth Criminal Investigation Department, gave the total amount involved as £174, collected in just over two mouths. Deakin told him that the method had been described to linn by a fellow-prisoner, and he thought it was an easy way of getting money. There were convictions against Deakin at Birmingham, Southampton, Jersey, Rhyl, Greenwich, and at West Kent Quarter Sessions. He,had three years penal servitude for office breaking at Birmingham and eighteen months at West Kent for false pretences. Hie outstanding charges related to London. Plymouth. Folkestone. Exeter, Worcester, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, and Paignton. “He is a dangerous criminal, the superintendent declared, “ and does not hesitate to use violence to resist arrest. On one occasion he shot at a police officer, but the revolver was ineffective, and another tijne lie escaped by hitting a policeman on the head with a jemmy. PLEA FOR LENIENCY. Deakin, in asking for leniency, related that on his release from Wandsworth in October bis fiancee’s father gave him money to set him up in business. While be was in Piccadilly, however, a man whom lie had met in prison robbed him, and he thought he might regain the capital for his business by these methods. Having succeeded at Lewisham and Cntford, ho went on with the frauds, and when he had made enough money he was about to return to London to start an honest life, but he realised that he was a wanted man. “ Whatever my past has been,” be .declared, “ i am finished with it. 1 am through with crime. 1 have made a rotten mess of my life. I have bad a good upbringing, and I have business experience. 1 will yet make good. I beg of your Lordship to show me leniency. As stated the judge passed sentence of twenty-one months’ hard labour, remarking that the frauds were extraordinarily ingenious.