SEVEN YEARS' LIBERTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22284, 9 June 1934, Page 22

SEVEN YEARS' LIBERTY

ENDED BY CHANCE ' CLUE OF LOST DIAMOND RING (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 1. Seven years ago Claude Milton Phillips escaped from a train while being taken from Orange to Bathurst Gaol, to serve a sentence of seven years' imprisonment for larceny. He made his way to Adelaide, under the name of Reginald Payne, and there married and settled down to a respectable life. Recently his wife reported to the police the loss of a diamond ring, and this was the direct clue leading to the identification of, Payne as Phillips. ' In August, 1927, Phillips was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. He escaped from custody by making a perilous leap through a window of the train while it was in motion. His photograph and finger prints were sent to every detective bureau in Australia and New Zealand, and his description was despatched to every police station, but Phillips remained at large. ■*. . ,■ According to the story he told the police after his recent recapture, Phillips, after jumping from the train, walked as quickly as possible away from the railway] li>e, and worked on stations and farms in the middle west of New South Wales under the name of Reginald Payne, keeping away from but gradually working his way into Victoria and eventually into South Australia. During that time he became an expert horseman nnd horsebreaker and he was seldom short of work. In South Australia he again commited a petty larceny, was charged under the name of Reginald Payne, and was released as a first offender, but finger prints were again taken and were filed away at police headquarters, Adelaide, whither Phillips eventually found his way. An expert mechanic, he engaged in the motor trade and led an honest life. He married an Adelaide girl and settled down to domesticity. He earned good wages, and as a hobby, engaged in horse-riding contests at shows, winning many trophies—all as Reginald Paynev The depression came and adversely affected the Paynes, although the man's cleverness enabled him to maintain a decent, if poor, living. There was ho breath of. suspicion against Reginald Payne's honesty. During these povertystricken days, Phillips'. father died, be queathinff to his son about £SOOO. But he could not collect it. If he had, he would have had to make his identity known,; not only to the police, but also to his wife, and from that he flinched. The legacv was never claimed. A few months ago Phillips obtained employment as a chauffeur. Then a " tip" came to the New South Wales police that if they still wanted Phillips, they might find him in Adelaide. The information was passed to the South Australian police, but a thorough search of garages and other places where it was likely that Phillips would find employment was unsuccessful. Then by a sheer chance, the South Australian finger prints expert found that the indexed prints of Reginald Payne corresponded with the prints of Phillips which had been sent to Adelaide from New South Wales. The search for Phillips ended; that for Reginald Payne began. The record of his marriage was found, but no trace of the Paynos could be found. Then one day recently a detective saw a report to a suburban police station that a Mrs Edith Payne (the name given in the marriage record) had lost a diamond ring. Sirs Payne was interviewed and disclosed her husband's place of employment. Detectives lay in wait for Payne, and he quietly submitted to arrest, admitting that he was Phillips and that he was the man who had escaped while on his way to gaol seven years ago. He said that for the sake of his loved ones he had tried to live down his past and thought that he had succeeded. He was charged with escaping from custody, and was brought to Sydney to serve his old sentence.