AUDACIOUS CRIMINAL

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1924, Page 14

AUDACIOUS CRIMINAL

ESCAPE FROM NEW ZEALAND. MARSHALL RUN TO EARTH. SENTENCED IN SYDNEY. Sydney, May 15. A man from New Zealand, named Frank Raymond, alias Frederick Marshall. who escaped from the Paparua prison, near Christchurch, on March 24. and is described as a “cunning and audacious’’ criminal, was on Tuesday sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on a charge of forging and uttering. By plausible methods the criminal secured two cheque forms from one Frank A. Myers, a Carrington hotelkeeper, and, filling in one for £4B, sought to pass it on to a Newcastle firm. The precautionary measures adopted led to the arrest of “Raymond,” and De-tective-Sergeant Ryan, when he took the stranger into custody, did not realise that he had in hand a criminal with a remarkable history. “Raymond” was found to be identical with Frederick Marshall; who at the Wellington (N.Z.) Supreme Court, on February 3, 1923, /as sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and declared an habitual criminal. Marshall subsequently escaped from the Paparua prison. Six days later "Raymond” landed in Newcastle. Within 24 hours of his landing there he was safe in the hands of Detective-Sergeant Ryan. “Raymond” conducted his defence on Tuesday with remarkable skill. He cleverly set up a defence which, the Judge told the jury, proved, if the jury accepted it, that “Raymond” was innocent. It was a defence which might reasonably have created doubt in their minds. Keen and quick to perceive the possibility of the jury being deceived, the Crown Prosecutor adopted an unusual course. He replied to the speech from tne cock oi cne crarty criminal, nowever, the jury was not imposed upon, naymond was round guuty or forgery and uttering and it was when the gaol recorder was requested to reveal what was Known or Kaymona mat an were surprised. From May 15, 1904, at the Parramatta Quarter Sessions, until his last conviction in New Zealand, Marshall has led a career of crime. Heavy sentences, including two “declarations” have been passed on him in New Zealand. So extraordinary, so lengthy was the criminal’s history, that the foreman of the jury humorously declared that it required a racehorse to eclipse the record. Marshall, who is an Australian by birth, escaped from the Paparua prison on the afternoon of March 24 last, the occasion of the visit of the Minister-in charge of Prisons, Hon. J. C. Parr, to the institution. No one saw Marshall make his break for freedom, as he was not under direct surveillance at the time. Shortly after his escape was made known, however, a prison horse was found in a plantation some distance from the institution, and it was supposed 'by the authorities that the prisoner used the *at' 4 «ffecti.nc his escap '