MURDER TRIAL ENDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20743, 10 December 1930, Page 10

MURDER TRIAL ENDS.

[DEATH OF BANK MANAGER.

(THE SENTENCE ON BUCKLEY.

LENGTHY CAREER OF CRIME.

[from our own correspondent.,] MELBOURNE. Dec. 4.

Richard Buckley, whose dramatic trial has ended with his sentence to death for the murder of Mr. T. R. V. Berriman, hank manager, who was shot dead at Glen feme seven years ago, is one of the worst criminals Australia has known. Hardened though he may be, Buckley's face blanched when he heard the verdict. When asked whether he had anything to say, he replied: "The circumstances were me. lam perfectly innocent of this crime." He swayed when sentence was passed upon him, signifying the finish of a most dramatic trial. Already one man—Angus Murray—an associate, of Buckley, had been hanged for the crime for which Buckley himself was convicted. The evidence was that Murray did not fire the fatal shot, but that Buckley did, and remarkable public demonstrations followed the conviction cf Murray. Crowds knelt outside the gaol on the morning he was hanged. If Buckley goes to his death, the scenes are not likely to be repeated. The crime had been Almost forgotten when Buckley was taken from the hiding place that had given him shelter for seven years.

At least one other man associated with Buckley in crime paid the extreme penalty. This was John Jackson, who was convicted for the murder of Constable McGrath, at the Melbourne Trades Hall in /1915. Buckley, who received six years' imprisonment for his share in the Trades Hall crime, and Jackson entered the hall for the purpose of robbing an office. They conducted a running revolver fight with the police in the dark. Both Jackson and Buckley were wounded •nd a constable was shot dead. Life Staked on Turn ol (Join.

It has been stated that after the constable was shot £.nd Buckley and Jackson were trapped in the building, they tossed a coin as to which of them would take the blame for the shooting of the policeman. Jackson lost—and duly paid the penalty. This incident has only just been revealed by a man who knew Buckley well/in and out of gaol. Who fired the fatal shot, it is said, was never definitely established. Buckley has had several aliases, and he was first heard of by the Australian police in April, 1879, when he was sentenced to two months in gaol for assault. In 1882 he was fined for larceny and three years later he got three months on each of two charges for assault. In the following year he went back to gaol for 12 months for having illegally used a horse, and at the same time he got three months for having attempted to pass tobacco to a prisoner, and also for having assaulted a constable. There was another sentence of three months in 1887 for

larceny. The first long term imposed upon Buckley was three years' imprisonment in 1888 for burglary, and at the same time he got six months—the first month in solitary confinement —for malicious pounding. Another conviction for burglary was recorded against him in 1891. At the same sitting he was convicted of receiving, and the joint penalty on that occasion was five years' imprisonment, jvith two weeks in solitary confinement. Sentences Totalling 30 Years. Buckley was not heard of again for aix years, when, for having wounded . .with intent to do grievous bodily harm, he was sentericed to 12 months' imprison- ' ment with an add-.d four years for receiving. His next sentence was two years for having had housebreaking implements in his possession. Then followed a sentence of six years, including 10 weeks of solitary confinement, for having broken into a counting house. Thus sen- j tences totalling 24 years were recorded pgainst him up to 1897. Then 18 years went by before Buckley ,was heard of again. Again he was captured in a counting-house, and on the j charge that he intended to commit a felony he was sentenced to six years in gaol and declared an habitual criminal. He served a! number of years in gaol and •was allowed out on parole in January, 1922. It was on October 8, 1923, that Mr. Berriman was murdered.