Pirate Radio Chief Murder Trial

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 20

Pirate Radio Chief Murder Trial

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright > LONDON, July 18. The murdered chief of a British pirate radio station emerged like a character from a James Bond novel during a Court hearing in Saffron Walden, Essex yesterday.

Lawyers and witnesses told of his claims to have nerve gas and fighting men at his disposal, and said he carried a pocket gas gun for personal protection. The murdered man, Reginald Calvert, aged 37, was head of “Radio City,” an unlicensed commercial radio station pouring out pop music from a disused war-time fort standing on stilts in the Thames estuary off the southeast coast.

Two days before he was killed, a group of 17 raiders boarded Calvert’s radio fort. Oliver Smedley, aged 54, a wealthy businessman decorated for bravery as a paratroop major during World War 11, is charged with murdering Calvert.

The theatrical impressario, Dorothy Black, told the Court that she and Smedley took part in the boarding of “Radio City” after a. rumour that Calvert was going to sail it to an American group.

“Smedley and I were concerned that Calvert was thinking of selling the station with equipment on board that did not belong to him,” she said. Miss Black, who described herself as a business associate of Smedley’s quoted the dead man as saying he had discovered a nerve gas and would lob shells on to the tower to drive away the raiders. He added that he could “call on the best fighters in the country to help him.** The prosecuting counsel told the Court that Smedley told the police after the shooting at his country mansion home: “I know he came here to kill me. I could see he was mad and 1 knew he carried arms. I had no choice but to fire. . .” The preliminary Court hearing, which will decide whether Smedley should stand trial before a higher court, continues today.