BOGUS AIR ACE TRAPPED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24009, 5 July 1941, Page 16

BOGUS AIR ACE TRAPPED

Young Woman He Deceived Ended Romances For "Hero" IN ringing tones of almost passionate contempt, a pretty young music student denied in the witness-box at the Old Bailey, London, that she had offered £IOO to a man to marry her. The man who put this suggestion to her was later revealed as a plausible rogue.

-ir-l OR three months he had posed 'M fig a flight-lieutenant of the Royal Air Force in the stolen •uniform of a former Olympic and A.A. A. champion. But for the keen observation of another young woman whom he deceived, the man Michael Joseph Downes, aged 34, an aircraft fitter, might still be masquerading as one of the heroes of the "Battle of Britain," who had been awarded both the D.F.C. and the D.F.M. Instead, he has started a sentence of two years' imprisonment passed upon him "by the Common Sergeant, Mr. Cecil Whiteley. First Day Out of Gaol

station as a suspected person before he was able to prove his identity. From Bristol, Downes travelled to London, stole a quantity of jewellery from his landlady and gave it to Miss Geraldine Mellor, a 25-year-old music student, whom he met in a Kensington boarding-house, and to whom he proposed marriage. It. was Miss Mellor who denied Downe's suggestion that she offered him £IOO to marry her. Engagement Announced "I realise now," she told a News of the World reporter, "that I fell in love with his uniform and not with Downes himself. Ho got two cheques for £;K) and £4O out of me to buy wedding presents, and as a result I cannot finish my music studies at the university this term." Miss Mellor took Downes to her parents' home at Twickenham, and their engagement was announced in the social columns of two daily newspapers. Downes described himself as "D.F.M. and D.F.C." Downes told thrilling stories of the dog fights over Britain, and the final crash which put him on sick leave "for the time being." He usually ended up by "borrowing" money from his listeners. One of his victims was Lord Rennell of Rodd, a former British Ambassador to Home, whom be met by accident* in Hyde Park. Lord HenueH's car had broken down. Downes stopped his taxicab and offered him a lift. On the way to Lord Rennell's home, Downes told him ho was a Canadian

Downes, with his attractive physical appearance and fascinating Irish accent, was a plausible scoundrel, but really not very clever. He had never noticed, for instance, that R.A.F. officers do not have turn-ups to their trousers. It was this fact which led to his downfall. The uniform he stole in a Bristol hotel from Flight-Lieutenant Reggie Thomas, former champion miler, was a little too big for him. Ho had the trousers turned up. "Downes stole FlightLieutenant Thomas' uniform on the very day bo came out of Bristol Gaol after serving a six month's sentence. When Flight-Lieutenant Thomas woke in the morning he found that aU Downes had left him was a pair of shoes. As a residt, Flight-Lieutenant Thomas spent two and a half hours at the police-

R.A.F. officer, and had been injured in n crash. Lord Rennell invited Downes to his country house. Downes wont, got a cheque for £SO from the 83-year-old peer, and then disappeared." Downes also obtained meals at expensive restaurants \vith_ worthless cheques. and obtained £O7 from the Post Office by forging Savings Bank withdrawal forms. During his three months of freedom it is believed that he obtained at least £250 from various people whom he deceived. At the Old Bailey he pleaded guilty to three other, charges. He was lound guilty of four others and asked for 25 other cases to be taken into consideration. Detective Penny stated that Downes had ten previous convictions dating back to KM. Some of them were in Ireland, and one was for theft and being in possession of a revolver and ammunition. Downes arrived in England in 1933, and had worked as a kitchen porter and as an aircraft fitter. He had committed a crime in every situation in which he had worked. The Common Sergeant remarked that ho could not understand why Downes had been treated so leniently in the oast.