DOUBLE LIFE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

DOUBLE LIFE

He Lived on Other People And Ruined SAID to have lived a Jekyll and Hyde existence in the West End of London, William Guy Wayte, aged 31, was, at the Old Bailey last month, sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. Wayte was found guilty of obtaining goods by false pretences from two West End stores, and on the direction of Judge Beazley he was found not guilty of obtaining credit without disclosing he was an undischarged bankrupt.

k T the age of 21, it was stated, f\ Wayte was editor of the OxJL <*• ford and Cambridge Magazine, and was made bankrupt with a deficiency of .about £9OOO. DetectiveSergeant Hannam said: "Between 1927 and 1934 at premises in Fleet Street and later in the Strand, Wayte ran, a business styled Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. Before June, 1928, there were accumulated deficiencies in the region of £IO,OOO. He and his brother obtained £12,000 from the late Lady Houston in connection with that concern, and other sums from other persons. The business was not a bona-fide one and it collapsed with heavy liabilities. -

Motoring Annual and Hunting. Both these concerns collapsed, each with appreciable liabilities. "He also occupied premises at Queen Street, Mayfair, where ho ran a concern culled Hunting and Racing, Limited. This business was again not a bonn-fido one, and on January 81, 1938, was wound up with deficiencies stated to bo over £12,000." Society Friends Sergeant Hannarn said that Wayte was "blacklisted nt all the elite hotels in the Metropolis because of bad cheques." "He has mixed very freely with well-known and highly-placed society personalities. "Wayte is a plausible, cunning scoundrel and utter rogue," added Sergeant Hannarn. "He has lived .on other people's money for years and has ruined some."

"During 1936 and 1937 ho occupied a suite of rooms at Bryton Street, Mayfair, and ran journals called

Mr. Christmas Humphreys, defending, said that ho was instructed that the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine was still running as an undergraduate magazine.

Large Sums of Money During the last ten years Wayte had handled enormous sums of money and had not put a penny in his pocket. On January -23 last, before Judgo Beazley, Wayte was found not guilty ,of obtaining two sums of money by false _ pretences and of forging and uttering a forged document. It was alleged that he obtained the money from the Policy Holder Journal Company, Limited, as commission on advertisements which the prosecution alleged were not genuine. - ; v. .