LONDON MURDER MYSTERY

Northern Advocate, 4 February 1936, Page 8

LONDON MURDER MYSTERY

FRENCH COUPLE DETAINED

(Received 10 a.m.) PARIS, February 2,

• The police have detained a French couple in connection with the supposed murder of Max Kassel, alias Emil Allard, whose body, with six bullet wounds, was found below a hedge at St. Albans, London, and who it was later stated was suspected of being a white slave trafficker. The couple were subjected to a gruelling questioning. .

By further investigation the authorities traced Kassel’s brother, who is lying ill in a Paris hotel. He positively confirmed the identification from photographs. Woman’s Story.

The couple detained were Charles Lacroix and Mrs Naylor, a Frenchwoman, whose real name is believed to be Suzanne Bertron, but who was detained under the name of Feraro. The police are reported to have received warrants from London accusing the man of the murder of Kassel, and the woman of bigamy and fraud. According t 6 the woman’s story, Kassel came to her flat in London to collect £25 owing to him by Lacroix. She refused to give him the money but arranged a meeting at which, when she was in another. room she heard quarrelling and shots.

She opened the door and saw Kassel go, bleeding, to the bathroom, where the police believe he died. The woman says she heard more quarrelling between Lacroix and a third man concerning the disposal of the body. All-Night Examination. The British United Press correspondent says: “I saw Lacroix and he could hardly stand after an all-night examination, in which he was confronted with the woman. He was no longer the dapper little man known in Soho, and made a half-hearted attempt to shield his face from cameras.

“The police say he strongly denied participation in the crime, but the woman, on the contrary, posed readily for photographers.” The London police took possession of the flat in Soho, in which it is believed Kassel was murdered. The bloodstains' found were examined at the police laboratories and reveal the same group as the blood of Kassel.