CONSTABLE’S DEATH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3709, 27 October 1927, Page 1

CONSTABLE’S DEATH.

* ESSEX MURDER MYSTERY. SUPPOSED CLUES USELESS. Most of the clues obtained in connection with the murder of Constable Gutteridge, who was found dead in a lonely Essex road recently, , have been discarded, says the Weekly Despatch. The handkerchief, marked “A. H. Miller,” has been traced to its owner. He lives at Brixton, and has given a statement to the police. The biscuit box has also been identified. It was discarded months ago during a house removal. Microscopic examination showed that the revolver found on the Thames fore-shore at Hammersmith, had not been fired by the murderers, and the bullets and the finger-prints found on the windscreen of Dr. Lovell’s car have no! yielded a real clue. The Scotland Yard Record Office’s slender hope of effecting an arrest lies in the finger-prints on the steering wheel. The Bishop of Barking (Rt. Rev. J. T. Inskip), preaching at the funeral of the victim, characterised the crime as dastardly and un-English. It marked, he said, a development of the criminal spirit, which was regardless both of the sanctity of property and of human life. Constable Gutteridge need not have died if he had chosen an easier course, but he would then have been untrue to himself and to police traditions. The murdered man’s widow, a pathetic figure, collapsed during the service. After four days the driver (James) and conductor (Payne) of an omnibus have recalled that a ear roared behind them at 30 miles an hour in the mist of Tuesday night, and almost collided with them. As it swung past Payne noted part of its number as “T.W. 612,” but James recorded it as “T.W. 6120.” The police believe the motorist lost himself and his companion in the fog for two hours after the murder, and when he found the route drove wildly towards Biixton to abandon the car before many people were about. Payne and James have furnished a full d es ‘ cription of the car’s occupants.

Bag-snatchers are very active in Christchurch just now (says the Press), and they do not confine their operations only to secluded places. Only recently, late at night, . a young woman had an unenviable experience in Cranmer Square. A bravado suddenly molested her and tried to cut the strap by which the bag hung on her arm. He was met by more than passive resistance, and a sharp scuffle ensued. The mirror in the handbag was broken, and one of the pieces cut deep into the young lady’s thumb, making the blood flow freely. She also received scratches on the face. ’ The struggle continued unabated until the lady succeeded in drawing the scene of the encounter under a neighbouring light. It was then that the assailant disappeared, a little sadder but nothing richer. |