The Casebook of a Detective

by Harry Nankin

There was no reply so once again wishing for a glass of Scotch whisky, larger this time, he continued.

  “Attention to detail, somewhere there was a lack of attention to detail something missed, more than likely before our very eyes.”

  “On the way back to the police station we came upon a large group of Chinese tourists in the city centre. As normal they were a group of smiling faces, all clamouring to have their image taken for onward transmission to friends and loved ones. All recording the scene and memories of their holiday in the United Kingdom. Others were recording the sad images of the odd street player who would soon be moved on, not knowing where their next meal might come from. The contrast in the two groups caused me to realise what we may have missed.”

  There were still no shouts from the audience of “I have it or I see it, the connection is.”

  Jack continued. “Arriving back at the police station the officer in the case was at a loss, I said, “Video, get out the videos.” The tapes were brought and it was a laborious job over some days viewing the shots and film, many repeated in slow motion.”

  “When completed there were glum faces, the investigation officer looked and asked if I had seen anything which he nor those others present had not?.”

  “I had, I thought I had seen something. There was one street performer in every shot, not always playing but there never the less in the vicinity.”

  “It was lady, clearly East European, aged in her seventies, dressed in old clothes with the typical scarf upon her head. I noted her expression. As the various clips I had noted previously were retrieved from store and edited it was clear she had in fact been in close contact with the each of the killers.”

  “The constable had stopped and spoken with her, so had the man picking up the litter. The young musician was seen arriving with her.”

  Hesitating he asked, “Any suggestions course, as to the next course of action to be taken?” asked Jack, again only a blank response.

  Jack waited then said “I obtained the services of a lip reader and a psychologist who both viewed the film clips at length.”

  “They informed us as follows.”

  “The lip reader reported,” “The police officer had told the lady to move on or he would arrest her. She had begged to stay but was refused.”

  “The Council workman who was more abrupt had told the old lady he would report her for begging. She had begged him not to do so. He had told her she was a scrounger spending his taxes, she should go back to Hungry and he didn’t care if she starved or not.”

  “The young man who appeared an idyllic person had in fact told the old lady that he wanted half of what she collected today if not she would get the same treatment as last night and the word rape was clearly seen upon his lips.”

  “The victims were not directly involved with the lady but rather it was their position in life.”

  “The first being the Lord Mayor and leader of the council, they had changed the rules, thus resulting in the loss of the only income the street players including the old lady, had.”

  “The second, the police officer who enforced the laws, the third was the security officer who also enforced the law and cost those with little income even more financial loss.”

  “It was therefore clear that at long last a motive had been discovered. The victims were those in authority who invoked the laws moving on these street players and thus depriving them of what they considered was an honest living to obtain food if not shelter. Their killers were the very people who had been paid money to deprive the weak and poor of bread to be put into their mouths.”

  “The killer thought of the plan to have those who instigated the new laws driving out the street players to be killed by their own instruments of evil. In the eyes of the killer, of course.”

  “The real killer ladies and gentlemen was the elderly Hungarian lady.”

  “When she next visited the city she was arrested and taken into custody.”

  “You will recall I mentioned I obtained the services of a physiologist. This expert when he viewed the film clips could clearly see that when speaking to her three victims that expressions on their faces changed. The expert was satisfied the old lady had transfixed them by suggestion, hypnosis call it what you will. When they walked away they could clearly be seen on the video to be quiet and transfixed. When they arrived at the murder scene the old lady can be seen having followed her angels of death. They looked at her then committed their dreadful crimes then turned their evil upon themselves.”

  “The old lady was detained and the case solved.”

  All heads were now turning, the inevitable came as Jack took a final sip, when one young detective called out “I don’t recall reading anything of it in the papers or on the television.”

  Jack looked up and said, “Oh ye of little faith, there was no report for the old lady was found dead the following morning in the police cell apparently murdered by her cell mate another lady held under the Mental Health Act. It was judged the old lady had hypnotised her cell mate to kill her. The lady killer was judged to be unfit to plead and was committed to a mental institution. The Coroner had decided in the public interest not to publicise details of the cases save to say all the victims were unlawfully killed. The incident in the police station was reported likewise but no names were published because of medical confidentiality.”

  “You will perhaps agree detectives that once again it was attention to detail and the use of experts which solved the cases. In addition and unusually all participants in the cases were in fact victims.”

  The Chief Constable stood and said “you are correct Mr Richards’s attention to detail, the use of experts, but let us not forget a little inspiration from an old detective came in handy.

  There was loud clapping and calls of good work.

  It was now time for a break; Jack sat contemplating his next story. If he wasn’t careful he would be getting a reputation and a name as a story teller rather than a clapped out detective who lived in the past of detailed enquiries and statement taking.

  The break over all sat once again awaiting the next story, noted pads at the ready some hold recorders for later use.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  DREAMING OF DEATH

  The Chief Constable stood and asked, “Mr Richards we are all aware of the recent case in court of the murder of Ramona, have you any other experience of dreams or other supernatural events that you might relate?”

  A low ball thought Jack as he pondered and cast his mind back through the years.

  “Well he said “I recall two such cases.”

  Jack then related this story.

  “A young man was a patient in a mental hospital. He had a long history of mental illness frequently reporting to the police he could foresee crimes about to be committed. Initially they were looked into but all proved to be just figments of his imagination.”

  “The young man went in and out of various mental institutions over many years. He became well known.”

  “During an occasion he was on release from hospital he reported that he had seen a lady walking along a road and a man dressed as a woman had approached her and on passing had strangled the innocent woman who had been walking back home from her work in a late night café.”

  “The police visited and sure enough discovered the body, though when searched for the man Edward Rollings, who had reported the incident could not be found.”

  “The police made enquiries and discovered the woman had just had a blazing row with her ex boyfriend in the café before he had left work.”

  “The officers had visited the man and found bloodstained women’s clothing in his waste bin.”

  “The man was arrested, he denied the offence.”

  “It was only when police records were checked after the man was interviewed it was discovered that Rollings had in fact been arrested on a drink drive charge and was in police custody at the time of the murder. He could not therefore have murdered his ex lady friend in spite of his
threats.”

  “Further enquiries were made as a result of which, a similar report had been made six months previous. A man had anonymously reported witnessing a murder. The murder was proved to have occurred; the man reporting however was never traced.”

  “A diligent officer made detailed enquiries and discovered one William Sumner, a transvestite, who lived near both scenes of the murders. He was interviewed, his house searched and sufficient evidence was found to have him charged with both murders. His mental history record including his so called ability to foresee crimes were such that he was judged unfit to plead before a court but was detained indefinitely within a mental institution..”

  “Some two years later one Saturday night around two o’clock in the morning the police received a call from Sumner. He alleged he had dreamt he was walking in the night in a hospital car park. He came across a woman locked in a car screaming.”

  “He told the police controller that he then walked back into the hospital and reported what he had seen to a male nurse who was on the telephone but too busy to listen.”

  “He alleged he picked up the telephone and rang the police it took ages. Eventually the police arrived. A search was made no car or woman was found. The hospital told the visiting officers the man was a lunatic patient. Nothing more was done and the officer marked off the incident as a malicious call.”

  Several days later a workman carrying out an emergency repair found a woman’s body in a car. She has been killed she fitted description of the original woman.

  “Sumner was now visited by officers but they found him secured in a padded cell. The hospital assured the officers that he may have been able to make an emergency call from the telephone in the corridor when visiting the toilet, if the nurse with him had been distracted, but there was no way he could have left the hospital as described in the story.”

  “As a result the hospital video cameras were checked and these checks confirmed Sumner never left his secure room neither did he walk around the hospital.”

  “There were eventually strange looks when a man walked into a police station confessing he had murdered his wife in her car in the hospital car park.” He had since driven her body away. Officers visited the scene, recovering the dead body. The husband was charged, pleaded guilty and is currently serving life imprisonment.”

  There were now looks around the room and a voice called, “what is the other case?”

  Jack finally and incredibly removed his trilby hat.

  “Well that case takes me back to the time when I was working the beat. I and my close friend were in the police station having our refreshment break. There was banging on the door then a lorry driver came storming in, clearly in a panic.”

  “Come, quickly two people dead in a car, come quick I will show you.”

  “I and my colleague immediately went with the driver to the scene.”

  On the way there we received a radio call, it went like this.”

  “Headquarters here we have just had a nut ring up to say that he was woken up at two o’clock when he heard someone tapping on his bedroom window. He says he got up and looked down onto the lawn, there was a girl on that lawn in a wedding gown she was waving him to follow her."

  He has telephoned us saying he was too afraid to go down until the police arrived, the address is opposite Yew tree Farm at Norton village.”

  “I called to say we were already going there as a result of a report of an accident and would deal with both calls.”

  “When we arrived the man ran from the house it was a shocking sight, a car had hit a tree. The car obviously contained newly weds for the car had writing all over it, “Just Married.”

  “The man running from the house repeated his story how a lady in a wedding dress had been standing outside waving for him to follow her.”

  The driver of the lorry was in tears for he reported that when he passed he had seen the crashed car, he did not stop but drove for help to the police. When he had left the car was stopped having hit the tree but other than that he saw nothing unusual.”

  “Now, detectives, for all to see the area was littered with clothing. Suitcases had been emptied. Clearly someone passing had ransacked the car to steal items, and then left the scene.”

  “Inside the car both young people were dead still strapped in by their seat belts.”

  “At the post-mortem it was revealed the woman still in her white marriage gown had suffered a broken neck and died instantly. There is no way she could have left the vehicle and certainly not visited the home of the sleeping man.”

  “The man in the driving seat of the car however had suffered chest compression injuries and had been alive for some time.”

  “Had the householder visited the scene and released the man he would have lived.”

  “As for the thieves they were never traced.”

  “The mystery as to how the householder was awakened by the young lady causing him to contact the police was yet another case of a dream solving a case but although the householder was there he missed it, the young man, had died.”

  There was complete silence for several moments as Jack stopped and closed his briefcase.

  The silence however was broken when a voice asked.

  “What are your views from the early days regard capital punishment in general and hanging in particular?”

  Jack looked up and then replied, “Well Capital punishment had stopped before I started to investigate murders but only recently I was researching something and I came upon a true case, I will relate this to you all for you to judge for yourselves.”

  He opened the briefcase once again and after a moment or so produced some notes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  MURDER AND EXECUTION

  “I will give a brief narrative of such a murder case and the end result, the hanging.”

  “The victim was a lady, living alone and by all accounts she was an eccentric recluse who kept a shop or store from her home at Bronygarth, near Oswestry in Shropshire.”

  “On the last day of her life she was sitting alone not realising that at any moment two men, John Williams and another named Slawson originating from the Wrexham area who had slept the night in nearby barn were planning to visit her. They were about to end her existence in a most violent way and for little reward.”

  “The men carried out their intentions and with exceptional violence, attacked, killed and robbed the lady.”

  “There was a local outcry; enquiries were made far a field. Details of the crime and information of the suspects were posted to the police at various places and eventually the two men were arrested in the City of Coventry.”

  “The Chief Constable himself, of that city visited a jewellery shop and personally made the arrest and recovered the property.”

  “The two suspects Williams and Slawson were brought back to Shrewsbury. They were still wearing blood stained shirts which were seized at Shrewsbury prison and given to Superintendent Mac Michael of the Shropshire County Police..”

  “The old woman was found dead as the two men had left her, lying in a mass of blood on the floor and with severe injuries to her head.”

  “A Doctor from Chirk gave evidence of the injuries to Emma Evans. Other witnesses were called who stated they had seen the suspects in the area.”

  “Both men eventually appeared before the Shropshire Assize Court. Slawson was defended by a Barrister but Williams had no defence.”

  “Full details of the case were later reported in the local newspaper in the form of a confession by Williams, this will be given here.”

  “Slawson blamed Williams and at the end of the case the learned judge did what he could to inform the jury of his own opinion of the part played by Slawson, however and surprisingly they found Slawson not guilty of Murder though he admitted being present and that he had stolen property.”

  “The judge informed Slawson he was a lucky man and suggested when he sentenced him to 7 years transportation of Burglary that he took t
ime to repent.”

  “The jury found Williams guilty and having placed the black cap upon his head the learned judge sentenced him to death by hanging.”

  “Williams eventually sent a message from his prison cell to the county deputy sheriff that he wished to confess all. The Sheriff duly attended the prison and records the confession which is now given in quotation.”

  John Williams states: -

  “I wish the truth to be told I wish to make a statement. Slawson had been at Bronygarth he told me one day for half an ounce of tobacco, this old woman lived by herself. He had been on purpose to see what he could spy; I made the agreement with him to go there. Slawson said I thought to take another lad with me if I had not seen you. I was asking him if he thought one could get into the house because Slawson said the other had some false keys.”

  “We had agreed to take away her life while we were together in the stable hay loft. I had expressed the hope that we, after waiting so long one should not be deceived and enquired if he Slawson was certain the old woman had no companion with her. Slawson in reply observed she was quite alone. He said that if I would be of so mind with him we should be sure of it. I did not wish to go to the house until about the middle of the night. Slawson said we had better go about dusk as the place was not so much frequented.”

  “The door would then be open and all unlocked to be sure of getting into the house. I was to hold her whilst he, Slawson went to the counter where he had seen her purse. If he couldn’t find it he was to come and search her pockets, while I held her. If not found we were to settle her that is to say murder her. The old bitch as he expressed it.”

  “The door was shut but not bolted. I knocked on the door and she came and opened it. I said have you got tobacco, she said, “yes.”