DRAMATIC ARREST.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 925, 21 November 1933, Page 1

DRAMATIC ARREST.

Chief Salvage Officer Faces Conspiracy Charge. FIRE CASE SEQUEL. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received November 21, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, November 20. Captain Brynmor Miles, Chief Officer of the London Salvage Corps, has been remanded on bail on a charge of conspiring with Leopold Harris to prevent the due administration of justice. When arrested at noon he declared: 4 ‘ This is absolutely preposterous.” Detectives indicated that more serious charges would be brought against Captain Miles, whereupon the Magistrate said: "There must be heavier bail.” Bail was forthcoming in recognisances totalling £IO,OOO. Captain Miles, who is 38, had a distinguished war record. He won the Military Cross and was twice mentioned in despatches. It was stated recently that Leopold Harris, now a prisoner in Wormwood Scrubs serving the probationary part of a term of fourteen years’ penal servitude, had volunteered to the Crown authorities a full statement of the fire conspiracy—on certain conditions. Part of this statement was made to Chief Inspector Yandell, of Scotland Yard, and to a representative of the firm of W. C. Crocker, solicitors of the insurance companies who unmasked the sixteen conspirators already convicted. This statement followed upon Leopold Harris’s extraordinary revelations of bribery and corruption which were published by the “ Sunday Express.” Commenting on Harris’s statement to the police the “ Daily Express ” said : It is expected to reveal a conspiracy so vast and a fire-raising organisation involving such important principals that it was not even suspected by the insurance officials and police officers who brought Harris and his fifteen confederates to trial. Leopold Harris himself, freed from the ordinary tasks of the penal servitude prisoner undergoing preliminary imprisonment at Wormwood Scrubs, has completed a great part of his statement. Copies have been supplied to the Home Office, Scotland Yard, and the solicitor to the insurance companies. The statement is regarded with such importance that the investigation of the fire-raising conspiracy—being conducted by a secret committee of senior insurance company officials and the police—has been suspended. The part of Harris’s statement already completed will be submitted to a conference of officials of the Director of Public Prosecutions office, Scotland Yard officers, and the solicitors to the insurance companies.