ARRESTED IN LEWIS PASS AREA— Escaped Convict Had Well-stocked Hide-out

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1950, Page 4

ARRESTED IN LEWIS PASS AREA— Escaped Convict Had Well-stocked Hide-out

“Don’t shoot; I am not armed,” cried the escaped murderer, Cecil Robert Gurr Otto, as policemen, armed with pistols, dropped from both sides of a bridge in the Lewis Pass to surprise him and a young woman, Nancy Gibbs, as they boiled a billy for tea beneath the bridge about 5 o’clock yesterday. Smoke from the fire had given away their almost perfect hiding place, and brought to an end almost three weeks of freedom which the convict had enjoyed since walking out of Burwood Hospital, where he had been receiving plastic treatment for a face wound. “I would have liked a bit more freedom,” said Otto, as he ,was taken to Maruia Springs Hoste], the headquarters for the three-day police search for the convict. Otto had an elaborate hide-out deep in the bush, and had been there for some days during the latter part of his freedom from custody. Prior to that he had been in Christchurch.

Question Of Transport

It is believed that Otto had some means of transport to reach Maruia with a big quantity of goods. He erected a tent deep in the bush, and when it was found after his arrest last night, it was well stocked with food and other equipment. Otto, who told the police about this hide-out after his arrest, was unable to return to it alter his presence had first been reported to the police because of swollen creeks. In another part of the bush, not far from the point of his capture, a cache of food, including a suitcase of tinned foods, was found hidden in undergrowth. Otto also directed the police to this store. The police net nearly trapped Otto on Thursday. This was when a party went out to investigate a report that smoke had been seen near a peak. Otto saw the police coming, and crouched still deeper in a patch of undergrowth while the policemen passed a few yards away. Moved By Night While he was unable to get back to his well-hidden camp, Otto, accompanied by Miss Gibbs, who, it is alleged, met him on the bush fringe after making a trip by bus’ from Christchurch on Wednesday, moved by night through the dense bush, always keeping ahead of the police search. He and the woman hid

themselves during the day. _ They moved on to the main road through the Lewis Pass at a spot 'about five miles east of the Maruia Springs hostel during darkness early yesterday morning, after having a cold meal at about four o’clock. They carried blankets and a small amount of camping equipment with them, and made themselves comfortable under a low bridge in the Cannibal Gorge area. Soaking and chilled, the couple moved back into the bush m the afternoon and made a vain attempt to light a fire to make some tea. This proved impossible because of the wet conditions, and the couple returned to the bridge to light a fire beneath it.

The bridge, low and wide, was an ideal hiding place, as to see underneath it a person would have to leave the road and move down to the level of the creek. Smoke from the fire, however, led the police to the spot. During the search all motorists moving west across the Lewis Pass were questioned by the police patrol at Maruia. After halting dozens of cars in vain, Constable R. Hickling, of Greymouth, late yesterday stopped a man and a woman who told him casually of smoke issuing from a bridge five miles back along the road.

The Capture

After reporting this to Sergeant G. C. Donnelly, who had just emerged from the bush, Constable Hickling took Constables R. E. Marriot, of Greymouth, and Birrs, of Reefton, with him and drove to within a few chains of the bridge. Constable Hickling then walked to one side and Constable Marriot to the other, while the third policeman circled the bridge to move in from behind. The noise of their movements was drowned by the sound of the swiftly-flow-ing creek. Two of the policemen jumped simultaneously from the bridge and landed facing in towards the road. As they landed, with pistols ready, Otto and Miss Gibbs leapt to their feet. They had been sitting on blankets around a small fire on which a billy of tea was nearing boiling point. Otto immediately surrendered and the policemen quickly moved to take the billy of hot water from the fire. A search showed that neither of the fugitives had weapons. Otto made little comment to the police as he was taken in charge, but he seemed despondent and his companion showed signs of distress. Both seemed to be at the end of their tether, and physically and mentally showed the effects of the strain of their two days and nights of hiding in the soaking bush as the police hunted for them.

As soon as they arrived at the hostel they were accommodated in a hut at the back of the property. Both moved close to a big log fire lit there for them, and hungrily consumed plates of hot broth given them by the police. Otto was able to eat only soft food.

About 8 o’clock, Otto and Miss Gibbs were driven to Hanmer Springs, where they were transferred to a police car from Christchurch and driven to the city.

Search Carried Out In

Difficult Conditions

The search for the escaped murderer, Otto, in the Maruia region was carried out by a small armed force in severe conditions. Heavy rain and cold wind chilled the hunters and hunted alike, and one of the men in charge of the search, Sergeant C. H. Davis, of Westport, collapsed last night after the successful termination of the hunt. Sergeant Davis, who is suffering from a severe chill, and possibly pneumonia, as a result of exposure during the long hours spent .in the bush, was taken by ambulance to the hospital at Reefton last night. Other police officers engaged in the search returned to Greymouth, Reefton and Westport early this morning. The officer in charge of the operations at Maruia was Sergeant G. C. Donnelly, of Greymouth, who returned in time to commence annual leave

this morning. In view of the unpleasant conditions, the police officers appreciated all the more the service given by. the proprietors of the Maruia Springs hostel, Misses Morris, stated Inspector W. Kane, of Greymouth, this morning. He said that hot meals were available at short notice throughout the day and night as the men returned in shifts, exhausted, from the bush, and arrangements were made to dry clothing. He paid a compliment to the standard of the food provided at all times.

Inspector Kane also expressed appreciation of the alertness of Messrs J. Kilkenny and R. O’Neill, of Westport, who had watched through field glasses the meeting between a woman and a man in the bush near Maruia cn Wednesday and had given the police the first substantial clue to the whereabouts of the missing convict. He also praised the co-operation of motorists and others with the police, and the vigilance and determination of the members of the search, party, though they had faced a gigantic task.