DETECTIVE POSED AS A CRIMINAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17871, 12 June 1926, Page 8

DETECTIVE POSED AS A CRIMINAL.

HOW EX-CONSTABLE FELL INTO TRAP. LO\DO\. May 30. How a man from Scotland Yard posed as a criminal for the purpose of investigating an allegation that Clement Rouse, who was recently dismissed from the metropolitan police in connection with other charges, incited William Mureph to burglary and blackmail, was told at the Westminster Court. Mureph said in evidence that he is at present awaiting trial on a charge of larceny, and that previously he had been convicted eight times. He knew Rouse when the latter was a policeman. Rouse suggested robbing a jeweller’s shop in Sloan Street., saying: "The job is worth £IOOO. You have nothing to fear. I’ll be on plain-clothes duty thereabouts. Just knock on the door, and when the watchman opens it crack him over the head and help yourself." Mureph, tbrouh Mr Hackett. the sacristan at Westminster Cathedral, who befriended _ him, communicated with Scotland Yard, with the result that Inspector Keen posed as a crook, met Mureph in a publichouse. and listened to Rouse's proposals. Rouse also produced lists of unoccupied houses, for purposes of burlary, and police note-books, which, he said, would be useful for blackmail. Rouse was committed for trial.