TOO MANY "THRILLERS"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 36 (Supplement)

TOO MANY "THRILLERS"

LIVING IN AN UNREAL WORLD rStated to have been living in an unreal world, and acting like tho hero of a thriller, the 19-year-old son of a minister was bound over for two years by the magistrates at Rochdale, Lancashire, on a charge of boing armed with a water pistol and a bottle of ammonia with intent to commit a felony. Before the Bench appeared Frederick Arthur Wimbush, aged 19, of Leicester, who, according to the prosecution, last November visited Rochdale, whore ho iad been employed, and inquired for a man who was a known convicted thief. It was alleged that he suggested to this man a plan for "holding up" and robbing a firm's messenger after ho had drawn the wages from a bank. Wimbush's scheme was that a motor-car should be stolen in Manchester and brought to Rochdale, the bank messenger's bag should be snatched, and all the notes placed in a carton and posted to an address in Birmingham. The car was then to bo abandoned. The polico were informed, and when Wimbush went to Rochdale he was watched, and was arrested at a motor park. A water pistol and bottle of ammonia were found in his possession.

In a statement to the police Wimbush was alleged to have confessed that originally he intended to carry out tho hold-up, but ho had thought better of it and had decided to abandon the idea. For the defence, Mr. Keith Hudson told the Court that Wimbush was a young man of education and refinement, and from an early age had shown abnormal mental development. While studying in London for his B.Sc. degree he suddenly threw up his studies and tried to join the R.A.F., but was rejected on medical grounds. In the circumstances his father sent in his son's resignation to the firm in Rochdale with which he was employed. After" that, for six months prior to securing a job in Leicester, Wimbush was out of work, and devoted part of his time to reading literature of the thriller type. - The key to the situation in which Wimbush found himself was that he had been forcing his brain beyond his physical strength. He had been examined recently by a psychologist, who had reported that for some time ho had been living in an unreal world and acting as the hero of one of his books. The psychologist had suggested that a course of psychological treatment would prove beneficial to Wimbush, and had mentioned that arrangements had been made for him to spend 12 months on a farm.

The Bench, as stated, decided to bind Wimbush over.