NEW ZEALANDER HUNTED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16331, 21 January 1921, Page 7

NEW ZEALANDER HUNTED.

EX-WARDER AT WA IK EFUA WAITED. There is at present a great hue and cry in New South ’(Vales after ono William Ernest Coley, an ex-soldier and until very recently a resident of Nc,w Zealand. He is believed to have murdered a gii’h Gertrude* M’Grath, in particularly brutal circumstances, in a house at Lavender Bay, North Sydney, on Christmas Eve. Gertrud© M’Grath had been living at tho house only a short time. She was apparently one of those numerous ,girls who come to the cityJrom distant country places, and live their lives in their own way. There was some difficulty in ascertaining her identity after she was found murdered. She went to the house with a man believed to have been Coley during the day. When she was Found, some hours later, everything in the room had been smashed, the girl had been tied up and fiendishly butchered. The man had disappeared. Coley is between twenty-six and thirty y ears of age, and lie came to the Commonwealth from New Zealand about five weeks ago, and prior to the murder, he hacl, spent only about ten days in Sydney. Ho is a native of Brighton, England, hut he lias been domiciled in Now Zealand for a good many years. He was a member of tho New Zealand Forces during the war, and lie has a distinct shrapnel scar on the right side of the chin- Ho left New Zealand as a gunner with the Fourth Reinforcement for tho Field Artillery on April 17, 1915. He served in Egypt and the Balkan Stales in 1915- and in 'Western Europe in 1916- He was discharged in New Zealand in March, 1919. From April 9, 1919, to April 12, 1920, he was employed as a warder at the AYaikeria Prison Farm, in New Zealand. Between that time and the time of his arrival in this country his movements do not appear to be known. A reward of £2OO has been offered for information that will lead to the arrest of the murderer.