BODY IN A TREE.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19460, 27 December 1934, Page 8

BODY IN A TREE.

DEFINITELY IDENTIFIED.

ESCAPED PRISONER’S REMAINS. COMPANION GIVES EVIDENCE. The human remains found by two young men near the Waipa River at Tuhikaramea yesterday were definitely identified at the inquest to-day, before the Coroner, Mr S. L. Paterson, S'M., as those •of Bernard Charles Allan * Cole, aged 29 . years, who escaped from Waikeria Borstal .Institute on May 22 and had not been seen or heard of since. Evidence of identification was given by David Dunlop, superintendent of the Waikeria. Borstal Institute. Through the dungarees and oilskin coat found on the remains witness, was certain that, they were, those of Cole. A spectacle case, with Cole s name inscribed inside, was also identified by witness as Cole’s property. Witness said Cole was serving a sentence of three years’ hard labour when he escaped. He was admitted on June 8, 1933. Witness gave a description of Cole, which tallied with the appearance of the remains. Cole escaped from th© institution on_ u 22 last with another prisoner, trank Robert Baker, who was re-captured three days later at Ngahinapoun. Baker said that he had given Cole a pair of dungaree trousers. . . Frank Robert Baker, prisoner in the Waikeria Institute, also identified the human remains as those of GbleAfter he and Cole had escaped they hid in the vicinity of the prison until Mky 24, when witness stole a car and droVe to Arapuni and Cambridge, later hiding at Ngahinapouri, where they ran out of benzine and parted company. Witness had not seen Cole alive since. Witness was re-captured that night. The inquiry was adjourned sine die. ___________