EASTBOURNE CRIME

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXXII, Issue 58, 6 May 1924, Page 5

EASTBOURNE CRIME

SCOTLAND YARD SENSATION.

WOMAN HACKED TO PIECES.

London, May 4. Scotland Yard is investigating one of the most sensational of recent murder"' mysteries. Owing "to the smell arising from a portmanteau, which a man left in a cloakroom a few days ago at Waterloo Station, the bag was opened in the presence of the police. It was found to contain a woman's bloodsoaked lingerie and a blood-stained butcher's knife, to which human hair and flesh were adhering. Detectives maintained a watch for the claimant, who unsuspectingly arrived, presented a cloakroom ticket, and was immediately taken to the police station and questioned. In consequence of his replies, the pol'.ca searched an unoccupied bungalow behind a former coastguard's house in a lonely spot between Eastbourne and Langney, and discovered in various "rooms the dismembered portions of a woman's body, some of which wer e wrapped in parcels. A child's body with the hand chopped off was discovered nearby a fortnight ago. It is now discovered that a tall, dark man named Waller rented the bungalow furnished early in April. He said he wanted it for himself, hi* wife and his sister-in-law. He took up residence with a very pretty, fairhaired young woman on April 5. An Eastbourne taxi-driver says he frequently drove the man in « 11( 1 out of Eastbourne. He was sometimes accompanied by a fair and sometimes by a dark young woman. The man always had plenty of money. Roth women wer e nrctty : <>'.d refined.

It is pointed cut that the crime h not connected with the recent discovery of a woman's leg at Wimbledon, as two legs wer e found in the bungalow, together with a bloodstained saw. The murder of Irene Munro in August. 1920, took place a few hundred yards from the bungalow. The man who claimed the portmanteau is still detained. The crime created a public sensation, recalling the Orippen case. The woman in the bungalow is still unidentified and the police fear the head has been burned, but inquiries at London hotels t suggest that the clothing may belong to Miss C. Kay. who recently stayed at the Kenilworth. Hotel, Wilmington Square. The leather trunk found in the bu.ngalow contained four parcels and a biscuit tin with pieces of flesh and bone wrapped in clothing. Two large metal stew-pans were found in the kitchen, i n which parts of the body had been boiled.

There seems no doubt that two women had been staying at the bungalow, though they were never seen together; One was dark and the other light-haired. Apparently the dark one was murdered ten days ago.

It is understood the arested man hired the bungalow from a lady now travelling round the world, and paid a substantial sum, saying; he was in London in connection with the Wembley Exhibition and wanted a seaside home for his wife and sister-in-law. He spoke with a Canadian accent, was cultured, and had plenty of money, though no servant was kept. Neighbours believed he was on a honeymoon with the fair bobhaired woman, lie was last seen leaving Eastbourne with a woman in a taxi cab on April 25. The police do not connect, the child's body, which was recently found, with the bungalow crime.