OFFICERS FREED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 91, 26 June 1946, Page 3

OFFICERS FREED

“IRREGULAR AND WICKED” SENTENCED FOR EVADING CUSTOMS DUTY i References to “an irregular and wicked transaction” were made by Mr T. Eastham, K.C., deputy-chair-man of the Surrey Quarter Sessions Appeal Committee, at Kingston, when prison sentences on two officers were quashed. Frederick Joseph Dempsey, R.A.F. flight lieutenant, was sentenced by the Richmond Justices to four months’ imprisonment and a fine of £250 for evading. Customs duty on 48 bottles of brandy, 12 bottles of champagne, and 812 bottles of perfume, and a concurrent four months’ imprisonment for making a false declaration.

Jacques Gabriel Trilling, French Army officer, of Richmond, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of £250 for harbouring the perfume. Mr Eastham said the committee considered Dempsey’s superior officers were' very much to blame. “We think that to a large extent Dempsey has been a tool and a catspaw in this matter,” he added. “It might well be that some steps might be taken, not necessarily in court, to deal with an irregular and wicked transaction which had been designed and brought about by officers superior to Dempsey.” The committee, he said, could not confirm the monetary penalties imposed by the Richmond justices. The Commissioners of Customs and Excise had elected to sue for . treble the value of the goods, including duty.