FOUL PLAY?

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 30, 27 January 1933, Page 8

FOUL PLAY?

w Mystery At Te Awamutu MAN FOUND WITH HEAD WOUNDS TE AWAMUTU, Last Night. With a rifle wound in the head, the body of Walter Farrer Middlebrook, aged 33 years, butcher, of Te Awainutu, was found lying in a vacanU,section at the rear of the To Awamutu infants’ school shortly before midday on Monday last. While there was nothing at the time to suggest foul play, it is understood that important developments have occurred which have led to police investigation. Rigid reticcnsc is being observed in official quarters, and when interviewed by an Auckland Star representative to-day Dectective .T. Thompson, who is in charge of the investigation, refused to comment. “The body was clothed in a pyjama suit, and the feet were bare, when I discovered it,” explained Mr S. A. Brandon, a relief workkef. “A rifle was clasped firmly in the left hand, and lying across and pointing to the Tight, away from the body. The wound, I understand, was on the right side of the head, although at the time I thought a shot, had entered the mouth, ns it appeared to be cut about. Although the body was surrounded by fern, blackberry and long grass, there was nothing to indicate that the dead man had staggered through the fern and blackberry. Tn the course of inquiries it was ascertained that Middlebrook lived in a room at the hack of his butcher’s shop and that was found to he in a state of disorder. Those who saw the body after its discovery in the vacant section state that the charge entered near the right temple and came out near the top of the nose. When the body was found, the rifle was clasped in the left hand.