DRAFT FOR £4700 FORDED

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1929, Page 15

DRAFT FOR £4700 FORDED

YOUNG CLERK ADMITS GUILT HIS VISIT TO NEW PLYMOUTH. CUNNING SCHEME THAT FAILED. WILLS COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. A charge of forging a draft for £4700 on the Bank of New South Wales at New Plymouth was preferred in the Police Court to-day against Samuel Fabian Wills, aged 21, a clerk employed in the Auckland branch of the bank. He admitted his guilt and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

Detective Power, who arrested the accused at Parnell on the evening of July 11, produced a statement made by the accused, who said he had been in the bank’s service for four and a-half years. He received £3 10s a week at the bank and for some time past had been rather exceeding his income with his expenses. The idea of obtaining money came to him on Friday, July 5, the day before he was to commence fourteen days’ holiday leave. Next morning he took a blank draft form from a book on the inquiry counter and also procured a clearing voucher used in conjunction with the form. During the morning he filled in the draft for £4700 in favour of Alfred Clifton Davis, a purely imaginary name, on the New Plymouth branch of the Bank of New South Wales. He signed the names of J. McWilliams, acting-assistant accountant, and AL Pocock, a girl clerk. His next step was to fill in the clearing voucher, which is a slip sent by the bank to the branch at New Plymouth or other branches advising them of the issue of a draft, the name of the payee, and sometimes a specimen signature. This clearing voucher is sent by post, and when the draft is presented the particulars on the draft must compare with the particulars on the clearing voucher.

DROVE TO NEW PLYMOUTH. Accused filled in this voucher advising the Bank of New South Wales at New Plymouth of the issue of the draft for £4700 to A. C. Davis, and again on this voucher he signed the name of J. McWilliams. The voucher he placed in an envelope containing other office correspondence to the Bank of New South Wales at New Plymouth. He motored to Wanganui in his own car on the following day, Sunday, July 7, and on Tuesday drove through to New Plymouth. He presented the draft for £4700 at the branch of the Bank of New South Wales and, it being accepted, he made a deposit of £4650 in the name he had put on the draft and drew £5O in cash. He also procured three counter cheque forms. Wills, the statement continued, then went to the Bank of New Zealand at New Plymouth and paid in a cheque for £2509 for a telegraphic transfer to its Hamilton branch, also procuring a letter of identification to Hamilton. Later in the day he went back to the Bank of New South Wales and cashed a cheque for £2OOO, taking this money away with him. This left a credit balance of £l4l in the bank. Wills drove back to Wanganui, where his people lived, and on the same night caught the limited express from Marton to Frankton Junction. He called at the Bank of New Zealand at Hamilton next day (Wednesday, July 10), tendered the letter of identification, and obtained £2509, less exchange and telegraphic fees.-’ He came on to Auckland the same day and made deposits of money in banks in his own name, this being the first time he had reverted to his own name during the whole of the transactions. He deposited £6OO at each of three branches of the Auckland Savings Bank, £5OO on fixed deposit at each of two branches of the National Bank, and £BOO on fixed deposit at the Newton branch of the Union Bank. He also bought a motor-car for £250 in the name of a young lady friend. ONLY £lO7 LOST. When arrested on Thursday, July 11, Wills had £375 in his possession. This left £lO7 to account for, and this money he had spent on clothes, travelling expenses, and various items which he could not give in detail. Evidence was given by the two Auckland bank officers whose signatures were forged. J. A. McWilliams, acting-assist-ant accountant, said that when the clearing voucher for £4700 was received from New Plymouth on July 11 the New Plymouth branch was immediately communicated with by telephone. The signature on the voucher was a good imitation of his own, and he thought it had been “traced.” Mena Pocock, a young woman clerk, said the signature purporting to be hers was not anything like it. R. H. Vincent, teller at the New Plymouth branch of the Bank of New South Wales, said the accused, in presenting the draft, told him he was a solicitor practising in Auckland and gave an address. The draft corresponded with the clearing voucher received by post from the Auckland branch, and witness acted upon the draft as if all was in order. Accused signed the name of Alfred Clinton Davis and this agreed with the specimen signature forwarded with the clearing voucher. Wills pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail was fixed at £soo*