ACCOMPLICE THEORY IN MURDER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 13, 16 January 1936, Page 7

ACCOMPLICE THEORY IN MURDER

j DID WOMAN GO TO VICARAGE? ' MELBOURNE, Jan. 4. important new facts to-day came into possession of the detectives investigating the mystery surrounding the murder of Rev. Harold Laceby Cecil, vicar of St. Saviours, Collingwood, on December 12. These may open up a new line of impjjry leading to a solution of the crime. This information has prompted the eight detectives on the investigation to make several hurried dashes in the police car to various houses between Gore Street, Fitzroy and Hoddle Street, Collingwood, in search of a man who, they have been informed, left his lodg ings in a hurry soon after the murder. The new line of investigation opens up the possibility that there may have been an accomplice in the attack. Free Pardon. It is significant that a, free pardon has been offered to any accomplice who is prepared to come forward with facts that will lead to the arrest of the murAn early theory of the detectives was that the murderer was accompanied in his visit to the vicarage by a woman, and they are again turning toward this theorv. Although a man without a coat, was seen to leave the Smith Street; gate of the vicarage at 10 a.m. on Thursday, I December 12, the day nf the murder, no ' witness has been found who saw a woIrnan leave the vicarage.