LONDON BLACKMAIL CHARGE

Matamata Record, Volume XIX, Issue 1742, 25 June 1936, Page 3

LONDON BLACKMAIL CHARGE

J TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND A stockbroker and a clerk who demanded £6500 from a former employer and said that one would. then go to New Zealand, were found guilty of blackmail at the Central Criminal Court on May 4. They were both sentenced to imprisonment. The men were Geoffrey Howard Hastings, 46, a stockbroker, of Edenbridge, Kent, and Alfred Edward Vassie, 30, a clerk, of Camberwell. The indictment charged them with demanding the sum of £6500 with menaces from a man whose name was not disclosed, but who was referred to as Mr Blank. The trial was conducted before the Recorder (Sir Holman Gregory, K.C.). It lasted three days. Mr St. John Hutchinson, K.C., and Mr John Maude appeared for the prosecution, Mr J. D. Cassels, K.C., and Mr Laurence A. Vine for Vassie, and Mr Neville Larki, K.C., for Hastings. Information About Companies. Mr St. John Hutchinson said that the accused men were at one time in the employment of the prosecutor. When he was about to float certain companies they approached him and said they were in a position to give! evidence and get shareholders to bring actions against his companies; that these actions would ruin him and his companies. They also said that they would not do so if they were given some money. “We say,” counsel add- 1 ed, “that there is no question that these companies were perfectly proper.” In June, 1935, the prosecutor received a letter headed “Investment Research Bureau,” stating that they had been approached by subscribers with regard to certain share transactions. The writer_stated that he was acting on behalf of clients who wanted the return of their money for shares'they had purchased in the prosecutor’s companies. About the same time Hastings started an action against the prosecutor for £94, which he alleged was due to him for commission. The prosecutor, who, it was said, had nothing to hide, ultimately paid the two men £SOO, and an undertaking was given to close the offices of the Investment Research Bureau. Hastings received £94, which he agreed was a full settlement of all claims—“past, present, and future.” Letter from Accused. Nothing was heard of the men for a short time, counsel continued. Then, on December 12, the prosecutor received a letter from Hastings. It read:— “As, I have given up my business in the city, I have for disposal a number of addresses of investors, including ‘

shareholders of certain companies. If you are interested in the purchase of them I should be glad to know what you are prepared to offer for them.” i The prosecutor replied that he was not interested, and from that time Hastings repeatedly tried to see him. Vassie also wrote to the prosecutor stating that he had some “very important and urgent information.” Later Vassie suggested to the prosecutor’s solicitors that unless he were paid £2OOO and Hastings £3OOO they would tell the shareholders that their shares were worthless, ■, , A meeting was arranged in the solicitor’s offices. Hastings said that he 4 wanted £4OOO and Vassie £2500, then he would go to New Zealand. Police officers who had been taking shorthand notes of the conversation in an adjoining room, then arrested .the men: A mass of literature relating

to New Zealand was found in Hasting’s possession. It was, alleged counsel; the clearest form of blackmail. The jury, after a long absence from court, found both defendants guilty.