CAUGHT AT LAST

Hokitika Guardian, 20 July 1936, Page 5

CAUGHT AT LAST

A NOTORIOUS SWINDLER. POSED • AS STOCKBROKER. LONDON, July 12. Known in at least three continents for his swindling exploits, a smoothtongued confidence trickster is now safe under lock and key in a French gaol, states a London journal. Arrested ;in a fashionable, bar In Cannes last February, Edward Michael Cavendish, aged 47, alias Michael O’Reilly, a native of Brisbane, Australia, who lived in Dublin for a time, was found guilty by the Nice Criminal Court of defrauding Mr Thomas Belcher, a Liverpool cotton merchant, of £SOOO, and was sentenced to four years’ hard labour. He was ordered to pay £2ooo—all the money that was found in his possession—back, to Mr Belcher. Another Australian alleged to have acted as an accomplice in the fraud was sentenced by default to five yearsimprisonment. Cavendish, who was stated to be the leader of a gang of international confidence tricksters who swindled English visitors to The Riviera, arrived there two years ago. He soon became known for his lavish spending and heavy gambling. He told his friends he was a successful stockbroker. One of his many acquaintances, Mr Thomas Belcher, was so impressed that he. readily consented to hand over £SOOO to invest for# him. Fortunately, Mr Belcher mentioned his "“investment’’ to a friend, who at once reported it to the police. Cavendish, already under suspicion, was immediately arrested. According to the French police, Cavendish had been convicted on si? previous occasions in England, Australia, Holland, and the United States, on charges of robbery and swindling. He had been expelled from France in 1928. <■" -