"A BORN ROMANCER"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22566, 9 May 1935, Page 6

"A BORN ROMANCER"

INVENTED EXPERIENCES MAN'S PECULIAR CRIME. Described by the police as a " born romancer." a Durham miner, who was stated to have invented experiences with such care and Ingenuity that he almost convinced himself of their truth, stood his trial at Durham Assizes recently, when Roland Llewellyn Fishwick, aged 82, of Hordern Colliery, was remanded in custody on a charge of public mischief. The charge was a sequel to a remarkable affair at Signing Bank, Horden, where Fishwick shot himself and alleged "in a dying deposition" that he had been shot by a man who had left him for dead after robbing him. Mr Hilton Foster, prosecuting, told the court that Fishwick, who had been secretary of a rifle club, bought a rifle of low calibre. Mr Foster suggested that the exploit was carried out through a desire for notoriety and good favour. It nearly, however, resulted in Fisn-

wick's death. It was revealed that Fishwick's story caused police inquiries extending over two weeks, costing several hundred pounds. Fishwick's closest friends recognised that for years he had told lies for no apparent reason, and without any desire to harm anybody or do himself any good. On one occasion Fishwick wrote to a former army colleague in India, then at Catterick, giving a most detailed account of his " experiences" in New Zealand and Australia —countries which hu 1 id never been near. Dr W. S. Dixon, of Horden, stated that Fishwick had suffered from malaria, and this, together with the effects of having been buried under a fall in a pit, rendered Hm liable on occasions to be not responsible for his actions. For the defence Mr F. Leslie submitted that there had been no deliberate intention on the part of Fishwick to cause a public mischief. His actions were rather " the delirious ravings of a sick man."