WE FORGERY CHARGES AT AUCKLAND

Grey River Argus, 23 April 1948, Page 6

WE FORGERY CHARGES AT AUCKLAND

Three Men Facing 112 Charges

P.A. AUCKLAND, April 22. Arising out of the discovery of allegedly forged totalisator tickets, three men appeared before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., on charges of forgery, uttering, theft, and conspiring to defraud the Auckland Racing Club. Among the exhibits vzere 37 five-pound j dividend tickets, which were alleged to have been forged, and on which the club had paid .out a total sum of . £1725. The accused were Neville Wolfe, aged 30, clerk (Mr Moody); John Proctor Savage, aged 27, labourer (Mr Robinson); and Douglas Gordon, aged 45 (Mr Robinson). ; There was a total of 112 charges. ' Wolfe faced 37 of forgery, 35 of utter- . ing, 20 of theft, and 20 of conspiracy. ; Savage faced 34 of forgery, 34 of uttering, 19 of theft, and 20 of conspiracy. Gordon faced six of forgery, six of uttering, four of theft, and four of conspiracy. There were 15 witnesses, the last of whom will be called by the prosecutor. Senior-Detective F. N. Aplin, when the case is resumed to-morrow. The totalisator manager, Harold Rupert Ward, said the Auckland Racing Club had experienced trouble with totalisator over-payments since about June of last year. After June 19, it was established that more divid-end-bearing tickets had been presented for payment than the number recorded as having been sold through the totalisator for certain races. The selling machine was checked, and it

was found to be faultless. Witness examined a £5 totalisator ticket on Royal Charter, a horse which won the fourth race of the meeting held at Ellerslie on November 8. This ticket had been presented for payment, and the club had paid out, on it the sum of £ll2 7s 6d. On comparing it with a genuine ticket, he decided that it was a forgery, and it was handed to Senior-Detective Aplin. A thorough search was made of all the £5 tickets which the club had met in connection with the meetings on November 8, December 26, December 2'9, January 1, January 2, January 29, and January 31. Further tickets, said witness, alleged to be forgeries, on which dividends had been paid ‘ out, were discovered when the Racing Club’s records were examined. It was established that over-payments had been made on each horse represented by these tickets. On March 27, the first day of the autumn meeting, said witness, he

handed the assistant manager, Miss Chattfield, £2OOO in consecutively numbered £5 notes, with special instructions for their distribution; and .Miss Pearl Chattfield said that, under police ■ supervision, she made the money up into six bundles, and handed one to each of the clerks employed at the £5 payout windows. Kenneth Massy Griffin, Government

Analyst, said that he received from Senior-Detective Aplin a tin containing lino stamps, numbering from one to 23, a “win” stamp, a bottle of ink, a fountain pen, and a number of totalisator tickets. He was of opinion that the tickets had been made with lino stamps. All of the tickets that he examined, he would say, were forgeries. They were quite good

forgeries, at first sight, in some instances. Some were quite bad, and in others ceriain letters wore obviously bad.

Herbert Thompson, totalisator clerk, said that be kept watch for forged dividend-bearing tickets. On March 27 he received from the witness, Miss Chattfield. the sum of £250

in £5 banknotes, and he kept note of the numbers. They were to be handed to any person who cashed tickets that might not be genuine. At 12.35 p.m., he received from the accused. Gordon, a ticket on the winning horse Nanredak. Witness considered this

ticket to be a forgery, and he paid out the dividend of £35 in £5 notes, as arranged. He signalled Detective-Ser-geant Ross, and handed him the ticket numbers.

Margaret Rednath, another totalisa-

tor clerk, said that shortly before the closing of the totalisator for the fifth race on March 27, Detective-Sergeant Ross drew her altentidn to a man in the queue outside of her window. She gave him two win tickets for horse No. 6, and be proffered her two £5 notes, which sue put aside, and later handed to Detective Ross. She iden-

tified Wolfe as that man. Altogether, seven totalisator clerks gave evidence that, on various race

da.ys, they had accented allegedly forged tickets as genuine, and had paid out dividends on them. Going into the witness box himself Detective Aplin described how he and Detective-Sergeant Ross and ActingDetectives Austin and Freeman kept the three accused under observation at Ellerslie racecourse on March 27. In the afternoon, he gave instructions for them to be arrested and searched. Wolfe was found to bo in possession of a small tin containing a number of lino stamps, two of the consecutivelynumbered £5 notes; a fountain pen; a genuine £5 win on the horse Iwo Jima, and two tickets purporting to • be genuine win tickets on Beanfighter The accused, Savage, had three £5 notes in his possession, two bearing numbers which had previously been noted. Witness continued that Gordon had one of these notes. When interviewed at tiig detective office, Wolfe agreed to make an explanation. Savage, on his solicitor’s advice, declined to do so, but said: “Gordon has nothing to do with it. He knew 'nothing about them”. In his statement, which was produced by Detective Aplin, Wolfe said that, about a year ago. lie was out of work. He was keen on races, and attended most meetings with Savage. Thov often talked about altering totalisator tickets, and he decided to make some stamps out of linoleum.

He had a complete set of valueless tickets numbering from one to 24, and copied numbers from these. He operated only on £5 tickets. After showing the stamps to Savage, they operated together. “I used to alter the tickets and Savage would cash them, and we could divide whatever we got out of it”, the statement continued. They would pick out a horse running in a race and buy a £5 ticket on it. If the horse did not win. he would the ticket and punch on to' it tiie number of the winning horse. He would go to one of the lavatories on the course, lock the door, and do this. He used a razor blade to erase the

original number. Never at any time had he told Gorden he was forging totalisator tickets, and he did net know' whether Savage told him. The Court adjourned until tomorrow.