VICAR FLEECED

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 24, 20 April 1927, Page 10

VICAR FLEECED

PAID £1360 TO BLACKMAILER SHOCKING IMPOSITION A country vicar’s poignant letter to a man who was alleged to have blackmailed him for about three years and obtained £1,360 from him was read at Marylebone, when William Ernest Piggin, aged 24, a chauffeur, of Praed Street, Paddington, who was arrested at Norwich, was charged on remand with blackmail. Mr. C. Wallace, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said it would be undesirable, unnecessary, and extremely cruel to publish the name of the prosecutor, who was the vicar of a country parish from 1906 to 1925. On May 3, 1923, Mr. X., the vicar, met Piggin in a public park of a neighbouring town. Piggin said he was in the theatrical profession and they spent some time together. Two days later Piggin called at the vicarage and, pretending that the police were aware of what had happened and were after him, obtained £6O from the vicar. He frequently called at the house after that until March, 1924, when he had received altogether £953. Mr. X. then consulted a solicitor and Piggin promised to leave Mr. X. alone. The vicar moved to another part of the country, but Piggin found him and continued to extort money from him. A letter from Mr. X. found at Piggin’s address in Paddington contained the following passages: You promised faithfully that you had turned over a new leaf and that you would, if I helped you for the last time, go out to New Zealand and stay there and try to refund me some at least of my money. But you have ruined me. You drove me from my living. I got into debt and had to sell up my home and leave my parish I dearly loved. SUICIDE HINT I calculated the other day you have had about £1,400 from me and have swallowed up all my poor mother’s savings for me, have broken up my home, and landed me in debt. I have always a dread of you asking for more help, which racks my nerves. I feel I cannot stand it much longer. I must do something. I have now at home a very simple little contrivance which, without pain or trouble, would settle matters. You could only be able to guess, if you read it in the papers, what had happened, and then it would look like an accident. Now please leave me alone. Be content that you have broken my home, brought -me almost to ruin and ruined ) my heart and nerves and embittered my whole life. If I have to take the steps I speak of it may look like an accident, but I shall leave in my drawer a statement of what I have had to go through, and let my friends take the matter up if they choose. I shall be past knowing anything about it. Mr. Wallace said that after arrest Piggin said: “I never intended getting a lot of money out of the Rev. but after getting the first lot it seemed so easy that I was tempted and was fond of high life.” The Rev. Mr. X., an elderly man, entered the box and handed in his name and address on a piece of paper. He produced a slip of paper which, he said, was signed by Piggin and in which he promised on his solemn oath never to ask for more money “as it was a made-up game.” A remand was ordered.