WRONG COAT CLUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20958, 22 February 1930, Page 26

WRONG COAT CLUE.

INNOCENT MEN IN PRISON. FIANCEE’S UNLUCKY PART. STORY OF AN HEIRLOOM. One of the most remarkable cases of wrongful conviction ■ in the history of British criminal law is recalled by the will, lately published, of Mr Charles Percy, solicitor, of Alnwick, Northumberland, and once Conservative M.P. for Tynemouth and North Shields. In his will Mr Percy left as an heirloom to his son, Mr Hugh James Percy, solicitor, of Alnwick, an eagle gold: seaL This wag a vital clue in the ease, in which Mr Percy, sen., played a leading part. The case was that of the Erdingham burglary, and attempted murder, in 1879. Two innocent men were sentenced to penal servitude for life, and had served seven years before the real culprits Were discovered. Particularly remarkable were a number of coincidences which helped to fasten the guilt on the two victims. As a result of their vindication four constabes were prosecuted for conspiracy to secure the conviction of innicent men. Through lack of evidence, however, a verdict of not guilty was returned. Erdlingham is a small v>U-e near Ainwick. On the night of February 7. 1879, the vicarage was broken into. Mr Buckle, the 77-year-old vicar, was roused by his daughter, and, inspite of his years, rushed downstairs with a sword to defend, his possessions.

VICAR AND DAUGHTER WOUNDED. The vicar surprised two men in the drawing room, one of whom dashed past him and The other fired a shot gun’,, seriously", wounding both the courageous >ld vicar and his daughter. The assailant; then jumped through the drawing room window on to a garden bed. Police ' investigations commenced, and .various clues were found. These included a chisel used to prise open tbe doors, a piece of newspaper found outside the dining room, and various footprints in the grounds. The two men, who were afterwards found to be first guilty and then ' Innocent, were then arrested. They were both poachers, and were named Braunagan and Murphy. They had been absent from their homes during the night, and the police built up a strong case against them.. , 1

Murphy’s fiancee, a girl named Agnes Simm, whom he ‘married after his release, played a luckless part in the case. She was asked by the police for his clothes. She had. however, found some blood and fur in the pockets of the coat he had worn, and, thinking to help him, gave the police a coat belonging to his brother-in-law, a man named. Redpath. ' AN AMAZING CONCIDENCE.

. By an amazing coincidence there was m a pocket of this coat a piece of newspaper which fitted exactly with the piece found in the vicarage. In addition, Redpath was induced to identify the chisel as his property, though, m fact, it was not. Two still more amazing coincidences followed: Plaster casts made of the footprints found in the vicarage corresponded with the b«ots and clogs of the prisoners. A piece of fustian cloth discovered under the drawing room window a month after the burglary fitted exactly into a ■ hole in Bx*annigan’s trousers. Murphy and Brannigan, fn spite of their protests, of innocence, were found guilty and sentenced. It was seven years afterwards that it came to the knowledge of Mr Percy, then a young solicitor in Alnwick, that a certain George Edgell had also been “out” on the night of the burglary. Inquiries followed, and it was found that another man, named Richardson, was constantly comp i Djr ° f Edgell- Eventually Edgell was taxed with the ‘ crime, and made a confession. Richardson, a desperate character, had been his accWpace. _ • \ - AN INVALUABLE LINK IN THE , CASE. efl gie gold seal ” was an invaluP i e l e of at the fresh trial, i u en attached to Miss Buckle’s go!d watch, which had been carried off by A he he threw .'"into, k® s°ld the seal to a jeweller, who. gave evidence against him. ilrannigan and Murphy were released Thov a r V f rded y? oo xt eac r as compensation. They returned to Northumberland, where afterwards. A further’romlnhn+n° aa a dded to .the case through both men adopting trades they had learned in prison, Bratmigan ■. becoming : a wheel wnght and Murphy a baker. Edfell and Richardson were each 'sentenced to five years’ penal , servitude. *° r Tu’Pcctor Harkes, ■ who was in charge fir ß f he +^i ICe j- nV i est i, lg i ltion6 lading to the first trial died before the truth *as Arthur d rrM+n rdl - n \- ho v e X er - to Major Griffiths, in his book, “ Mysteries authoriMy tbatHarkes"admlttedtolt wS.*K fig