SAVAGE MURDER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22314, 26 April 1947, Page 6

SAVAGE MURDER

WELLINGTON MAN SHOT ANDCLUBBED SUM OF £BOO MISSING BLOODSTAINED CAR FOUND (P.A.) . j WELLINGTON. April 24. The discovery early this morning of a motor-car with extensive bloodstains on the seats and the floor followed the finding of the body of its owner on the Evans Bay foreshore yesterday morning with two bullet wounds and extensive heac injuries The car had been standing in Rox burgh street since Tuesday, but it was not reported until to-day. The dead man was Francis Roy Wilkins, garage proprietor, aged 47. Bullet Through Heart He Had one bullet in the heart and another in one arm, and the holes made bv three others in his clothing. His skull was smashed in three places, apparently with a hammer. Mr Wilkins, it is known, was paid £BOO in a car transaction on Monday. This money has not been found. Mr George Simmonds, fire brigade officer, who reported the discovery of the car. said he first noticed it there on Tuesday afternoon. The car has been examined by experts of the criminal registration branch and by Dr Lynch. On the experts’ findings will depend police opinions as to whether the killing took place in the car or whether it was merely used to transport the body after the victim had been killed elsewhere.