“TOO THIN”

Southland Times, Issue 20539, 16 July 1928, Page 8

“TOO THIN”

BUCKLEY’S STORY ESCAPE FROM MT. EDEN GAOL CONTROLLER-GENERAL NOT IMPRESSED (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, July 14. The Controller-General of Prisons, Mr Dallard, in reference to the escaped prisoner Buckley’s story, said: “It is not at all unusual for escapees to concoct some such fantastic story in mitigation of their offence of breaking prison, particularly when they find the net of the law is closing round them. Buckley’s story is too thin to bear analysis, and it is hardly wide enough to justify his partner escaping too. “He says he escaped the night following a refusal of the prison authorities to allow him to return to hospital and that he intended to return to prison after his eye had been treated by a specialist. Such a sudden determination to escape does not coincide with the careful planning for some weeks including the manufacture of skeleton keys to fit the gaol grills some considerable time before the alleged incident to the eye happened. “His story regarding eye trouble is a clever fabrication. Buckley complained of eye trouble and was taken to the prison dispensary where doctor and dispenser examined the eye and could discover no foreign substance. The dispenser turned for a moment to procure some lotion to remove the inflammation caused through rubbing the eye when Buckley produced in the palm of his hand three pieces of glass as large as sugar crystals which obviously could never have been near his eye. He continued to complain of the trouble and was sent to hospital for a specialist examination. Buckley’s whole story is merely written- for the purpose of enlisting public sympathy.” James Leslie Buckley, who recently escaped from the Mount Eden gaol, wrote a letter posted in Christchurch to the Auckland Sun claiming that the prison officials did not give sufficient attention to his complaints of eye trouble following his breaking his glasses as a result of which several small fragments entered the eye. He alleged that although a specialist, • who had examined the eye and removed several fragments, gave instructions that the prisoner should be brought back for further treatment if more pain was felt, the officials refused to take notice of his complaints and it was in order that he might visit a specialist on his own account that he escaped.