FREEDOM—AND DEATH!

Western Star, 14 October 1938, Page 3

FREEDOM—AND DEATH!

A murderer was released from prison in England recently, only to die a lew hours afterwards.

Tho man was Thomas Albert Clay, »vho had served 20 months of. a life sentence. He had been released from I'arkhurst Prison.

White being taken to St. Andrew's Hospital, London, for treatment for tuberculosis, he collapsed and was rushed to Eulhani Hospital. A desperate attempt was made t 0 save his life, but ho died shortly after admission. "

Clay's father, also under treatment at St. Andrew's Hospital, had fcceo transferred to Fulham to be with his SOJU

In September, 1936, Clay, then 27, was sentenced to death at tho Old Bailey for the murder of his sweetheart, Phyllis Brace, a 24-year-old nurse. He was reprieved and the sentence commuted. Ho was stated at the trial to have been suffering from tuberculosis for 10 years.

The couple met when she was 15 and be 18. They discussed 'marriage, but agreed it was impossible. Then they decided t 0 die together. In Epping Forest the poignant drama was played. They consumed drug tab. 'ets, afterwards found to be harmless. Then he took a razor out of his attache ca«>,

-Miss Braco was found in a Forest ditch wounded about the throat, and Clay was crawling among some trees.