SYDNEY LIBEL ACTION
Piha Fire Case Recalled
(yew Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 1.
The chief of the Criminal Investigation Branch of the New Zealand Police (Chief Inspector F. N. Aplin) has been subpoenaed to give evidence in a libel action being brought against the Consolidated Press, Ltd., of Sydney. The action, which is being brought by Gordon Robert McKay, is a sequel to the publication by the Consolidated Press. Ltd., of a story about the sensational Piha fire case, which took place in Auckland, in 1939. McKay and an accomplice, James Arthur Talbot, both Australians, were later sent to prison on charges of arson and unlawfully interfering with a dead body. Chief Inspector Aplin will fly to Australia on Sunday, and expects to return to Wellington on May 9. He is being called to give evidence for the defence because he was closely connected with the investigation into the Piha case, one of the most remarkable pieces of detection in New Zealand’s criminal history. After arriving in Auckland from Australia, McKay and Talbot spent some time making discreet inquiries about recent deaths. They inspected a number of bodies, and finally selected that of an old soldier, Patrick Henry Shine. Body Removed After Shine’s burial, they went to the graveyard at night, dug up the coffin, and removed the body. Shine’s .body was taken to a bach at Piha. McKay and Talbot started a fire, and made it appear as if McKay had been trapped and died in the blaze. Talbot “escaped” to tell the story of his friend’s “death,” and McKay went into hiding. McKay’s life was insured with a Sydney firm for £25,000, but both the police and the insurance company were suspicious. The bach blaze was too intense, and only small parts of the body were found.
Among the remains was a section of the palate, and in it a small piece of cotton wool, used by undertakers when laying out a body for burial. This proved that the body found was not McKay’s. After a week of investigation, the police opened Shine’s grave and discovered the empty coffin. Talbot was arrested immediately, but it was several weeks before McKay was tracked down. Brought to trial, McKay and Talbot were both found guilty on charges of unlawfully interfering with a dead body, and of arson. They were acquitted of attempting to defraud the insurance company of £25,000.
McKay was sent to prison for four years, and Talbot for two years.
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Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 14
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413SYDNEY LIBEL ACTION Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 14
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