PRISON FOR BLACKMAIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

PRISON FOR BLACKMAIL

CLERK TO EX-SOLICITOR LETTERS READ IN COURT COMMENT MADE BY COUNSEL "It is just as much blackmail to demand money from a scoundrel as to demand it from a saint." So remarked counsel for the prosecution when, at Hampshire Assizes, William Newland, aged 44, property dealer, of Copnor, was indicted for having demanded money with menaces from Charles Sydney Purkis, a solicitor in Portsmouth for 27 years, who previously was sentenced at the same Court to five years' penal servitude for defrauding clients. There were charges of forgery and false pretences preferred against Purkis, and the total amount involved was more than £19,000. Purkis was wheeled into court in an invalid chair to substantiate the story outlined by the Hon. Cyril Asquith; prosecuting. A warder and a police-sergeant stood behind tho chair while he gave evidence from the main floor. Threats In Letters Newland, counsel explained, was engaged as a clerk by l?urkis V in April, 1927, and remained in his situation until July, 1928. During his employment he discovered some of Purkis' misdeeds in connection with his clients' money. When Purkis returned from a holiday in July, 1928, he found that Newland had absconded with £2OO in cash. From August onwards to the middle of October there was a succession of letters written by Newland to Purkis, Some of them demanding money and some making threats. The threats were to expose Purkis to his clients. Whan he absconded Newland left a letter in which he stated: —"I have kept your discrepancies with regard to your clients to myself, and will always do so, providing you play the game." On August 7 Newland sent Purkis a blackmailing letter. It read:—"l must have £4O by to-morrow. . . . You are partly to blame for getting me in this awful trouble because of the amount of remuneration you paid mo. Unless you can see your way clear to stmd the money to-morrow, I shall take my own steps to show up your delinquencies and vour dealings with your clients' money. May God forgive me for demanding this money, but I am desperate." Discovery by Police Another letter ran: —"To protect myself I sent a sealed packet addrsssed to the Law Society to a friend to be forwarded if anything happens." Other letters were received by Purkis, who sent Newland money, but did not take any steps to prosecute him. In fact, even when arrested, Purkis did not produce Newland's letters —they were found by tho police in a nursing home in which Purkis had stayed. In convicting Newland, the jury added a strong recommendation to mercy on tho ground that he was underpaid. Inspector Turner told the judge that Newland was a native of Gosport, and came of respectable parents. On August 11, 1914, Newland enlisted in the Royal Army Pay Corps, and in 1916 was given a commission in the Hampshire Regiment. He was promoted to the acting rank of captain, and was adjutant. After the war he received a regular commission in the Royal Army Pay Corps, and in 1925 he was promoted captain. Two months later he was removed from the Army, being absent without leave.

In sentencing Newland to 15 months' imprisonment, Mr. Justice Finlay observed that it was a mean and infamous crime, because there could be no doubt that he used the knowledge he obtained from his confidential relations with Purkis to obtain money from him.