MAGISTRATE & DETECTIVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1936, Page 10

MAGISTRATE & DETECTIVE

EVIDENCE WAS “NOT TRUE.” LONDON, January 1. “You have ben saying what is not true,” said Mr Dummett, the Bowstreet Magistrate, to a C.l.D.'sergeant. “I d'o not think much of the . wa V which you, have given your evidence. The Magistrate had been keenly questioning Detective-Sergeant Whitehurst regarding an identification incident at Vine Street Police Station. John James Metcalfe, 22, a radio salesman, was remanded in custody on a charge of robbery with violence at a Rupert Street flat. Sergeant Whitehurst said that Miss Doris Lush went to Vine Street Police Station on Friday evening to_ make a •statement respecting a man who had robbed her on December 17. Metcalfe was at the station to make' a statement respecting an alleged attack on him near Leicester Square. When Miss Lush saw him she said, without hesitation, “That’s the man who came to my flat on December 17 and robbed me.” Mr Dummett: The police had no idea, that this was alleged' to be the man ?

Sergeant Whitehurst: No. It was purely a chance meeting. I asked her to repeat her statement and she did so. I took her away and returned to Metcalfe. He then said, “I will tell you all about it. I have been a fool to myself.” He made a statement, which was taken down in writing. Metcalfe: It was not a chance identification. She was brought in and sat facing me directly. All she said was, “Yes, that’s the man.” Sergeant Whitehurst: No. He was sitting in the far coiner of the room. Mr Dummett (to Sergeant Whitehurst) : Had you or anybody in the police-station connected these two together before she said she recognised him?—No.

“APPEARED SURPRISED.” You are quite certain? —Quite certain. There was no sort of idea in your mind or, so far as you know, in the mind of anybody in the police-station that these two people had ever had anything to do with one another?— That is quite true. I had no idea what she was going to say, and she appeared to bo quite surprised when she saw him. Air Dummett: You are telling a most astonishing story. Now I ask you again, are you quite certain that the woman went to the station of her own volition, without knowing that sho was going to see the man suspected', and that no policemen knew anything about it Sergeant Whitehurst said that he told the woman to be at the station at 7.40 p.iri. and warned Metcalfe to be there at S p.m. Air Dummett: Not knowing that there was any connection?—No. I did suspect this man. “How long,” said Mr Dummett, angrily, “has it taken me to get the truth out? Half an hour, nearly. Now you say that you suspected' the man and that you had the woman there.” Miss Lush, in the witness-box, said that she went to Vine Street at the request of a police officer, who said Io her, “We have got a man who’ seems to resemble the description of

the man who robbed you. Will you come along and see if you can tell us he is the same man.” Air Dummett: You went, knowing that the man they suspected was going to be present with a view to seeing if you could identify him? —Yes. I sat in a chair opposite this young man and recognised' him at once.