“MENACE TO SOCIETY”

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 July 1935, Page 4

“MENACE TO SOCIETY”

VICTIMISATION OF WOMEN .THREE YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT SEQUEL TO N.Z. EXTRADITION. SYDNEY,- July 18. The sequel to extradition proceedings in New Zealand extending over several months was the sentencing of William Campbell, aged 37, in a Sydney Court- to three years’ imprisonment on a charge of stealing a valuable security by means of fraudulent misrepresentation. The woman who was with Campbell in New Zealand was bound over to be of good behaviour for three years, having also been found guilty of the charge.

After Campbell was found guilty', a police witness described him as a "menace to society,” whose method was to defraud widows and spinsters. Papers'were found in his flat containing tlie names and addresses of hundreds of women, showing shares they held in various public companies. “The man who goes about getting the savings and means of livelihood of women, by trading on their innocence, is very hard to describe. "You are a particularly mean and cowardly type of criminal.” said Judge Curlewis to Campbell, in passing sentence. Before sentence was passed, Detec-tive-Sergeant James said that Campbell was a man of unscrupulous type. His record included convictions for stealing in England in 1916 and in Melbourne in 1934. Campbell, a native of Australia, was a salesman. In 1921, under the name of William Boyne Bull', he married a woman in Queensland, and in 1933 a decree nisi was granted. Meanwhile, in March, 1925, Campbell, under the name of William Donald Lawrence Balfour, married another woman in a Sydney suburb, and in 1930, under the name of William Campbell, he went through a marriage ceremony with another Sydney woman. In 1931 Campbell was arrested ill South Australia and charged with misappropriation. He was released on bail, but absconded. In 1933 lie was arrested in Sydney and released on •bail, but again absconded. Iho same year, in Victoria he absconded a third time while out on bail. Detective-Sergeant James said that in 1933 a man named Leal obtained a verdict for £750 for injuries received by his son through, being knocked down by a car driven by Campbell. In 1034, while Campbell was in gaol, he wrote to Leal requesting him to be bondsman for £2OO, promising as consideration that he would obtain the £7501 do mages from his insurance com.p..nv. After hoi no: released. Camnbell absconded, finally being arrested in New Zealand, in company with a. woman. He fought for four months against extradition proceedings, wlncii cost approximately £5-50.