FORGERY CHARGES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22621, 26 April 1948, Page 6

FORGERY CHARGES

THREE FOR TRIAL FAKED “TOTE” TICKETS ACCUSED'S STATEMENT iP.A.) AUCKLAND. April 24. The last of the evidence against the | three men charged with the forgery o? totaiisator tickets uttering them, itheft and conspiring to defraud the Auckland Racing Club, w; taken before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., yesterday. The accused are Neville Wolfe, aged 30, a clerk, John Proctor Savage, aged 27. a labourer, and Douglas Gordon, aged 45. machine.operator. In the account of how he and three other detectives shadowed the accused at Ellerslie on Saturday, March 27, the first day of the Auckland Racing Club’s autumn meeting, was given by Detective Sergeant Ross, the last of the 15 witnesses called by the prosecution. Knowledge of Forgeries Denied Detective-Sergeant Ross produced a statement made by the accused, Gordon, after his arrest that day. "I thought all along that Wolfe and Savage were friends," stated Gordon, "and I deny knowing they were both involved in forgery and uttering of totaiisator tickets. Wolfe has never given me any tickets to cash for him Altogether I have cashed about fous. for Savage. It never entered my head at any time that there may have been something wrong with the tickets 1 had cashed for Savage. "I have never asked him why he did not cash his own tickets.” The accused said he had never seen Savage or Wolfe in the possession of any stamps suitable for stamping totaiisator tickets. He had not seen either of them making any erasure on a ticket. Picked Up Casually .The accused added that he went to the races that day with Wolfe and Savage in the former's car. They had picked him up casually. He had been shown totaiisator tickets alleged to have been forged by the police, but he did not know anything about them. At the end of the police case, counsel intimated that they were not then calling evidence. The three accused pleaded not guilty to all counts and were committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Each was released on bail of £250, with a surety of the same amount, and were instructed to report nightly at the detective office. The magistrate declined to make an order that they were not to associate.