BLACKMAILING LETTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

BLACKMAILING LETTERS.

; FICTITIOUS ACCUSATIONS. WAR HERO'S SAD FALL ' ■ 'i:V SENTENCE OF IMPRISONMENT. :

Blackmailing letters whose accusations?! were entirely fictitious formed the bisislof a remarkable. case at the Old Bailey 1 in May. They^were written by v a n < officer, with a' magnificent war record who sent them to a man and a woman demanding £SOO from each as the pn C g of silence.

Tall and pale, with.a scar on his f ore . head, the ex-officer, Charles Dunkley, ag e | 40, was allowed to sit in the dock while the story, of his lapse was outlined to 1119 jury. He pleaded guilty to uttering two, letters to a man and a woman living in Eastbourne, demanding £SOO with menaces from each. The names of tha prosecutors were kept secret. Dunkley did not know either of them, "and he admitted, through his counsel, that the allegations on which he based his demands were pure invention without a vestige of foundation.

Sir Percival Clarke, K.C., prosecuting counsel, explained that while Dunkley. lived at Eastbourne he was, on'the day of his arrest, staying at the Arundel Hotel, Strand, as Captain Dunkley.' in the first count he appeared to have written to a man living in Eastbourne a letter containing the following passages:— V Two Red Carnations." I wired you this morning. You don't know me, and I on my part have never seen you. However, I am writing a very nastv type of letter, and I know you will hats the reading of it. . . .1 am very anxious to go abroad, but I require the necessary .money to make this possible. I want exactly £SOO. .... You will meet icy ageat , to-morrow, April 10, in the lounge at th 9 Strand Palace Hotel, and wear tvro red carnations in your buttonhole. This sounds rather cheaply criminal; but it really •is essential, and you will hand to my agent a packet containing the sum of £250 in.notea of £5. I should advise you not to notify •the police, and a detective in your company or watchiug will not iji any way help you. I will not be present-, and without the money is handed to me within half un hour after the time mentioned I will immediately make it my business to notify 6everal folk in Eastbourne of the <irciun« stances, and as far as I can see your name will be drawn through the mud. .

The letter was signed " Cosmo Brown.". Prosecutor, proceeded Sir Percival, went at once to Scotland Yard. Arrangements were made for him to keep the appoint-, ment, .wearing the red carnatkms and carrying a small parcel." Shortly after prosecutor's, arrival in tha hotel lounge Dunkley entered, wearing a' dinner-jacket suit. He was joined by'a woman. Later he. gave a note to a boy to give' to prosecutor, who called ■out: " Where is the gentleman I am to give a parcel to ?" The woman spoke •to Dunkley, and then both hurried out 'into the Strand. They were' stopped by police officers, and Dunkley remarked, Don't bring the lady into it." On the previous day, added Sir Percival, Detectiye-Sergeanfc Thomas, one of the officers, had gone to the Kegent Palace Hotel with .a woman following the receipt by an Eastborne woman of a somewhat similar letter, in which she wai directed to pay £SOO for " silence." She - ! |was to appear afc the hotel wearing two prhite carnations.

Passages from the Letter. Passages from this- letter read by Sir; Percival were: — I am leaving England. . . . To reach my destination money is entirely essential, and at the moment my store is very small. "Why should you not help me? In fact, you really must, otherwise I shall have to take such steps that will make your life a perfect misery. . . . This humble request o£ mine would appear to be obtaining money under threat. May be it is, and may be tua law of the country does not permit it. bird, think it over very carefully, and possibly when you fully realise the arrangements I have made you will agree that the sum requested is quite reasonable. ... I hava 600 cards which will be handed to guests. ... I have already ok letters., and these will be sent under registered post to-morrow.-"Without the parcel is handed to my aneiit at the time stated, I will immediately commence to make your life a hell. With reference t6 the remaining £250, meet my agent at the Kegent Palace Hotel on April 14. I assure you that, without the money asked for is in, my hands half an hour after the time specified, my pleasant activities will commence. I am not flying from the police. I just hate the country and the idiots who govern it.

This letter was signed "Malcolm Jones.'' The woman herself did not keep the appointment, went on Sir Percival, but a woman friend went with the police officer to the hotel. She wore two white carnations./ Dunkley probably knew prosecutrix in this case by sight, and ha did not speak to the lady with the carnations. From the letters, Sir Percival declared, it was clear that Dunkley was fully cognisant of what he was doing and that it was contrary to the law. The letters were couched in such terms as to terrorise people. - -• A Scotland Yard officer stated that Dunkley was a native of Cardiff, 3 married man with one child. He served in the army from 1908 to 1912, and from 191* to 1923. He was then a captain, and he was invalided out on account of uj" health caused by a wound in the- head.He had been awarded the M.C. Since his retirement he had been in part netship in a motor business at EastboSrn®. until March, 1930, when the partnership was annulled as the result of a dispu e. He had done nothing since, and was understood to be in financial difficulties. Excellence of Past Record. Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, K.C-> j fending counsel, stated that Dunkley sired to express deep regret for his co duct. The circumstances relating to n were sad and interesting. The whole his past record was excellent. On tie - break of war he rejoined the army, " ceived a temporary < served almost continuously m -b r • He was awarded the M.C. m 1917 '_ month or two afterwards he was rcco _ mended for the D.S.O. and giveni to the Military Cross for great peiso S 'oSng , 'to the death, of senior officers Dunkley commanded his batta lol ' f de( i Somme; and he was then severely' *oung in the head and body. He went- bc. to England after having been on danger list in 1' ranee. I c allowed back, to the front, but he was not aUp> _ to go. He served in England as stai tain and brigade major. .j ven t At the end of the war Dunkley with the army to India. ceS ; an d nel had apparently touched his » ra^ dica i he had to go before a mur.bei o boards. In 1923 he had to etne • i t hG army. He was put on hall pay five vears. and then given a pensio Sir Henry added that DunUey s duct in writing the letters able. He was not in need, and t(j of his family thought it _ must. b ■ the wound in his head affecting his br

Remarks by the Judge. Mr. Justice Charles, in described the case as a sac on have been found guilty, i orpn t person lev " of a crime that every decent pi regards as a .particula.lv knoW . are circumstances brought to } ledge which certainly niltl P < { " letters in your case. Indeed, the W are strange in that they a soroe oiie tions. They are not fUe blot ul ,on his who in the past has got '• bl ' life which vou threatened to ex} » ln ca ses of that nature it » f practice, and the practice of who administer justice, ( sce '"o t an d sort of crime must be stamped out firmly, to send th with to penal servitude. 'lam iI. _ , r what your counsel has said -' l { ; g and I think I shall an injustice to the public bj sco ' n f. lbo „r you be kept m prison with naiu "for 18 mouths.