CAUSED BY BLOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27091, 27 May 1949, Page 6

CAUSED BY BLOW

DEATH OF EDNEY «S* OFFICIAL POLICE VIEW SUICIDE THEORY REJECTED PA AUCKLAND, May 26. “I am quite satisfied that Frederick Edney was murdered on Friday night, and that the cause of his death was an injury to the brain, as a result of a on the head,” said Mr J. Walsh, inspector in charge of detectives, at Auckland to-night. “The police are continuing to pursue their inquiries on those lines,” he added. Mr Walsh was commenting •officially on a report which suggested that Edney's death might have been due to barbiturate poison self-administered. The suggestion arose out of the discovery of undigested tablets thought to be sleeping pills in Edney’s stomach when a post-mortem examination was carried out by police pathologists. As in all murder cases,' the contents of Edney’s stomach were forwarded to the Government analyst, Mr K. M. Griffin, for examination. This report will show the kind of drug and the quantity consumed- It will assist the pathologists in giving their opinion on the cause of death. Until he hears evidence on the cause of death, the coroner, Mr A. Adison, will not assent to the cremation of the body in accordance with Edney’s express wish. The police said to-day that they have reason to believe that Edney had visitors in his studio between 8 o’clock and 10 o’clock on Friday night. They are anxious to interview thes° oeonie as a statement made by a man who left the premises about 8 o’clock is so far the latest report they have tu Edney being seen alive, it is thought that the dead man had a light meal not long before his death.

An indication of, the immense amount of work performed by the squad of investigators is the fact that they have interviewed nearly 500 people since the murder w'ss rev last Saturday evening. * They have been working 15 hours a day, with only two short breaKS for meals.

The possibility of Edney receiving his head injury in a fall did not escape the. police, but all the evidence still points to his being attacked at the foot of the stairs at the Queen street entrance to his premises. There was nothing to show that his head had come into contact with a protruding object inside the building.