DEATH OF SON

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20447, 27 October 1934, Page 28 (Supplement)

DEATH OF SON

FATHER’S STORY. ALLEGED CONFESSION. PLACED ON BURNING DUMP. A father’s alleged confession to th r murder of his son, as a sequel to the boy’s disappearance, and a vain police search o! a burning refuse dump, was read in court at Uxbridge recently. Thomas Joseph Davidson, 34, of no fixed abode, was charged with murdering his seven-year-old son, John Desmond Davidson. At the previous hearing it was alleged that he drowned the boy in the canal at Yiewsley. Mr. E. Calyton (prosecuting), said the boy’s body had not been discovered. Davidson had been married for some years and it was quite clear that, for some months before last Christmas, he and his wife were not on very good terms, and | were more or less living apart. As a result the boy at the beginning of December was put out to live with a,Mrs. Clack, at an address in Hanwell. He remained there until December 21, a very important date in the case. On that day the prisoner took the boy away, stating that he would bring him back the next day. Davidson did not take the boy back, but told Mrs. Clack that he had been knocked down by a motor lorry and was The next important date was with reference to Mr. Amer, who owned a piggery near the refuse dump at Stackley, Yiewsley, and employed prisoner, who lived in a hut there from some time in October until after Christmas. “I Shall Get Hanged.” On the evening of December 21 the prisoner took the child to the hut. That undoubtedly coincided with his fetching •the child from Mrs. Clack. Mr. Amer would say that on December 22 the boy had left the hut. Early on December 24 Mr. Amer spoke to prisoner, \frho said, “Jackie is dead. He was following me across the dump on Thursday and would not go back. He fell into the dock and got drowned.” Mr. Amer said. “Jack, you have done it.” At. that (according to Mr. Amer) prisoner looked wild and said, “Shall I go and give myself up?” adding. “Give me one more chance; it was not my fault. 1 shall get hung. I done it. I took hint away and drowned him.” Mr. Amer did not tell anyone of that conversation, but told the prisoner to clear out of the hut. He eventually left on December 27. Since December 21 the mother and others searched for the missing bov. but no trace of him could be found. Detec-.tive-Inspector Greenacre questioned the prisoner on two occasions. The first time was in April, when Davidson said he was keeping the boy away from his mother with some friends. In July he said he was being looked after by friends in Essex. Every effort had been made to trace those friends, but with no result. “I Killed Him.” On July 21 Inspector Greenacre received a letter from Davidson, in which he wrote: “Dear Sir, —With reference to the inquiries as to the whereabouts of my son, Jackie, which has been going on for the past seven months, my son is dead. I killed him. . . . . “I think it is best to make a clean sweep of things, and get things squared up. I do not intend to give any explanation as to why or how it happened in this letter, or where he is buried. If my wife is

brought along to see me I will explain everything. He can be found in a very < Few hours. . . . Otherwise you will dig For hours and then find nothing.” Inspector Greenacre, accompanied by the prisoner’s wife, went to see him on July 16. After being cautioned, he made i statement which he signed. The statement read: “I have tried in every possible wav to ?et my wife to come back, so that I could make a clean breast. She has failed to fulfil her promise or return. I have no further interest in life . . . “On Thursday, December 21, 1 took the boy to where I was staying at Stock ley, where there is a piggery near the canal. Jackie stayed with me on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On the Saturday night I made another effort to get my wife to come back to me and Jackie/’ “Jumped in With Him.” The statement then described in detail how, according to Davidson, he endeavoured to get his wife, who was staying with friends, to see him, but that she failed to do so. It then continued: “I rode back to Stockley. Jackie was n bed, with my dog looking after him. 1. was so upset by the other affair that I was determined not to linger any longer. “In the early morning (of the 2oth) I book Jackie and went to the canal dock and jumped in myself with him. “I recovered myself on the opposite side of the canal. 1 got up and hunted for Jackie and found he was a good distance away and was dead. “I went to the piggery for a blanket, and took him (Jackie) to the edge of the dump. He was fully dressed and had gloves on. “Between that time and January 10 I went back to where I had left Jackie’s bo.dy, but he had been covered by refuse, and I could not find it. “After I had put the body down I pulled some straw and rubbish over the body. I did not go back to my shed, but hung around. When I jumped into the canal with Jackie it was my intention to drown both of us.” Mr. Clayton said Davidson told Inspector Greenacre that he was willing to assist the police in any way he could, and with that object on August 7 Davidson and Inspector Greenacre and other officers went to the dump. “That was not until August, seven or eight months after the boy had been deposited there,” Air. Clayton continued. “The owner of the dump will tell you that in the winter months 100 tons of refuse are dumped there daily. After it has reached about eight feet, a clay top is put oyer it, and then another layer of rubbish is deposited, so that the spot where the body was deposited was now covered with ten or twelve feet of rubbish. “The dump is always burning, and the owner will say that it is quite clear that a. body put there and covered over would within a very short time be entirely burnt up.” Inspector- Greenacre described his visits to the dump with Davidson. At Ealing police station Davidson said to him: “I am prepared to take my punishment. I am content to think the boy is dead and gone. He would never have done any good in this world.” Hezekiah Amer, who employed Davidson at his piggery near the dump, spoke of the morning when prisoner said: .“Jackie is dead. . . He fell into the dock. . . . Shg.ll I give myself up?” Later he said: “I took him straight away and drowned him.” Air. Johnson (cross-examining): Were you very shocked when Davidson told you he had killed his boy?—Yes, very. Why did you not go to the police?— That is what I should have done, only I had no proof but what be bad told me himself. Herbert Norman Rose, of Allenby Road, Southall, a greengrocer, recalled a visit paid by Davidson on December 23 to a bouse in Shackleton Road, where Airs. Davidson was then living.

.Mr. Johnson: Are you the main cause ►f the unhappiness between this man and iis wife?—No. Are you living with her as your wife?— L r es. How long have you been so living?— Lbout four months. Did you ever attack Davidson? —Yes. )nce when he had knocked her down. Did she afterwards return to him?— She could not help herself. He took her Lway on the crossbar of his bicycle. Letter to Wife. Mrs. Davidson, wife of the accused, was .old she need not give evidence, but said die would do so. “In December, 1933,” she stated, “my lusband would have been on good terms, 3Ut I woidd not. We were then living a nore or less separate existence. I last saw my boy on December 19, 1933, when le was quite well.” She received a letter from her husband, lated July 26, which read:— “Well, kid. I hope you have got over -he shock of hearing what had really happened, but when you know the truth of things it is hard to say what you will diink of me, and again what the public will think. But I care not, for 1 know Duly too well that my end is not far off, md that although I have tried four times to end my life, and failed on each occasion, there is no hope for me now. “Believe me when I tell you that I sannot yet fathom what has come over Fou. You are not the Olive I used to know, you are only the shadow or skeleton and you are as cruel as you used to be kind. . . You and others know full well that those couple of days when you were back with me were the happiest of my life. . . Then when I left the message that our darling child was dead (which was then alive) you did not come. . “Thank God our innocent child will not grow up knowing what he did, for he was advanced in certain subjects sufficient to have been 20 years old. . . “Never shall I forget your words of years gone by, that if you ever left me you would not look at another as long as you lived. But you did not reign long on your promise. But whatever I may be I have kept mine, and by all appearances I shall keep mine, for I am looking forward to my end, although it is not a cheerful one. “But I shall walk to it with the consolation that I died for the honour of my darling child, and in an endless attempt to regain my wife, whom I have loved from the day I first met her, and for whom my love has never died. . . “Please write, Olive, and if you cannot think of me as your once-upon-a-time husband, write as a friend to help cheer me on my last lap. Please tell me, are you really happy with ? There is no' shame in the truth, and no matter how you have treated me in the past I should like to 6ee you happy. I hope they will not be lenient with me. I have no interest in life since I lost you.” “If You Were a Woman.” In cross-examination Mrs. Davidson said her husband was very fond of the child. Was the unhappy state of affairs due to your unfortunate association with Mr. Rose?—No. From 1926 to 1932 was Jackie in the care of seven different persons?—Yes, nearly that figure. Because I have always been out to ■work. Why should you be terrified of your husband?—l do not know. I just am. If you were a woman perhaps you would understand. Are you living with Rose now?—No. Have you been living with him recently as his wife? —Yes. You know your husband is very much in love with you?—l suppose so. He would go to practically any length to get you to go back?—Like the majority of people, they do not know what they have got until they have lost it. Davidson, who made no statement, was committed for trial at the Old Bailey.