MAN FOUND SHOT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 26 January 1933, Page 7

MAN FOUND SHOT.

MYSTERY AT TE AWAMUTU. POLICE INVESTIGATING. TE AWAMUTU. Jan. 25. With a rifle wound in the head, the body of Walter Farror Mjtldlebrook, aged 33 years, butcher, of To Awamutu, was found lying in a vacant section at the rear of the Te Awamutu infants’ school shortly before midday on Monday last.

While there was nothing at the time to suggest foul play, it is understood that important developments have occurred, which have led to police investigation. Rigid reticence is being observed in official quarters, and when interviewed by an Auckland Star representative to-day Detective J. Thompson, who is in charge of the investigation, refused to comment.

“The body was clothed in a pyjama suit, and the feet were bare, when I discovered it,” explained Mr S. A. Brandon, a relief worker. “A rifle was clasped firmly in the left hand, and lying across and pointing to the right, away from the body. The wound, I understand, was on the right side of the head, although a.t the time I thought a shot had entered the mouth, as it appeared to be cut about. Although the body was surrounded by fern, blackberry and long grass, there was nothing to indicate that the dead man had staggered through the fern a.nd blackberry. There was a big bruise, however, on the sole of one foot.”

In the course of inquiries it was ascertained that Middlebrook lived in a room at the back of his butcher’s shop and that this was found to l>e in a state of disorder. Those who saw the body after its discovery in the vacant section state that the charge entered near the right temple and came out near the top of the nose. When the body was found the rifle was clasped in the left hand.