Identification of Body of Woman

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 174, 26 July 1939, Page 6

Identification of Body of Woman

CLAVERLEY MYSTERY POLICE ACTIVITIES INTENSIFIED CHRISTCHURCH, July 25. The police officers responsible for handling the Claverley mystery are confident that this afternoon the body of an unknown woman washed up on the beach at Taratuhi last Thursday will be identified by relatives of Mrs Harriet Jarie Patience, who was reported missing from her home at Claverley on October 4 last year. The relatives will give evidence when thz inquest on the unknown body is continued this afternoon. Since the discovery of the body last Thursday police activity has been intensified. Officers under Senior-Sergeant Bickerdike, who was in charge of inquiries from the outset, were rushed to Kaikoura late on Thursday night. On Friday the inquest on the body of the unknown woman was opened at KAikoura by the district coroner, Mr W. A. Nelson, who gave authority for a post-mortem examination to be carried out. The inquiry was then adjourned sine die. Later the same day the body was brought to Christchurch and has been under special police guard at the morgue ever since. A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday by Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at Christchurch Hospital The result of his findings are not likely to be made known to-day. This morning Senior-Sergeant Bickerdike and other police officers engaged on the inquiry returned to headquarters from Kaikoura. It is believed that they were accompanied from Kaikoura by a son of Mrs. Patience, who will give evidence this afternoon. The district coroner from Kaikoura. who also arrived this morning, will hear evidence of identification at the continuation of the inquest this afternoon. Three witnesses will be called, one from Kaikoura and the others from Christchurch. After their evidence has been heard, and possibly identification established, the inquest will be adjourned sine die. BODY IDENTIFIED AC MRS. PATIENCE CHRISTCHURCH, July 25. Tlie identity of the woman whose body was washed up on the beach near Claverley last Thursday was established this afternoon. The inquest was continued in Christchurch when Arthur Stephen Patience, aged 17, identified the body as that of his mother, Mrs. Harriet Jane Patience, who went missing from Claverley on October 4 last year. Mary Ann Southen, mother of Mrs. Patience, and Mrs. Irene Maud George, niece of Mrs. Patience, also identified the body.