VIOLET-RAY CLUE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1938, Page 9

VIOLET-RAY CLUE

TO NON-STOP CAR. PLYMOUTH, March 3. Fragments of glass in an injured man’s coat, revealed by ultra-violet rays, together with a bumper button, were the slender clues which led to the conviction of Arthur Cecil Hudson, 41, a recorder in Devonport Dockyard,' at Plymouth to-day. He was fined a total of £22, with £l2 costs, for dangerous driving and for failing to stop after an accident. His license was suspended for two years. Mr. W. E. .1. ■ Major, prosecuting, said that Hudson’s car swerved across the road and ran on the pavement for. 60 feet. It hit a wall,. severely injtired a man and his wife,' and went on without stopping.

At first, he said, the only clue to it was a chroinium-pluted button which was thought to. have come from the bumper of a car of a popular make. Then ultra-violet rays revealed pieces of glass and microscopic fragments of rubber in the coat of the injured man. These indicated that the glass had come from a rubber-mounted windscreen. Then followed an inquiry in which police forces throughout ths country co-operated, said Mr. Major. Every damaged car in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Gloucestershire was examined and in Bath and Exeter, for instance, every garage was searched. Meanwhile appeals were broadcast

for witnesses and information was received that a edr seen in the neighbourhood just before the accident bore the registration J Y and probably the figure 8 or 9. The police obtained a list of cars with registrations beginning in that way. From more than 1,000 they selected about 70 of the make- which had similar buttons on the bumpers. Dozens of policemen and detectives examined these cars,. and eventually they came to Hudson’s. They found thp_windscreen broken and a bumper button missing. At first, said Mr. Major, Hudson denied all knowledge of . the accident and gave various explanations to account for the damage. In the end he made an admission. ..

■ 'Mr. A; C: Fallyan Windeatt, who defended and pleaded, guilty, submitted that a skid caused the accident. Hudson had been driving for 17 yearswithout a mishap, and he.stated that he was not aware that he had knocked anyone down. . It was utter foolishness that made him try to mislead the police. The chairman, Aid. W. R. Littleton, said it was one of. the most, serious cases possible, short of manslaughter.