THE CHRISTCHURCH MURDER

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3653, 18 June 1927, Page 3

THE CHRISTCHURCH MURDER

BODY OF VICTIM IDENTIFIED. •Christchurch, June 16. The young woman who was murdered in the scrub at .Bunvood yesterday afternoon has been identified as Miss Gwendoline Scarff, the daughter of Mr. Walter Scartf, who is well-known as a member of the Heatheote County Council and as a participant in other public affairs. Miss Scarff was in her twentyfirst year. She was not living at home when she left for Burwood. Until two days ago she was employed as a cook by a resident of MacMillan Avenue, Cashmere Hills. It is said that a few days ago she left her employer’s home with the expressed intention of going to Wellington. THE BOY’S STORY. Eric Mugford, the 15-year-old boy, who, riding bn his pony, disturbed a man at the spot, and discovered the body, came on the scene just before 1.30 p.m., but it is significant that a damaged wrist watch on the woman had stopped at 12.30 p.m. Possibly the important clue in the possession of the police is a tuft of brown hair about 6 inches long, picked up by Chief-Detective W. E. Lewis a few inches from whore the woman’s hat was placed. Its appearance suggested that it had been torn from a head. One end was stuck together as though by congealing blood. The other end showed roots clearly. It did not come from the young woman’s head, for her hair was much darker, almost black. A LONELY LOCALITY. The Bottle Lake Road meets the Lake Terrace Road at the Burwood Tearooms, the area between forming a triangle. At the place of the murder the distance between the two roads is about 300 yards. The piece of shirt found to-day at 8.30 a.m. by a small boy on his way to school was copiously bespattered. It included the breast portion, the collar, and some of the back. Its- appearance showed clearly that other portions of the murderer’s clothing must have been spotted thickly with blood. A friend of Miss Scarff says that she was an unusual type of girl and had been very strictly brought up. Miss Searff joined the Girls’ Club started in Sydenham by the Y.M.C.- 1 A... in 1923. She was a member of the club for some time. MAN SEEN RUNNING THROUGH - LUPINS. Information has been received that a man dressed in a dark grey coat, white pyjama trousers, with cycle clips, and heavy bootSj was seen running through the lupins near Jubilee Avenue early yesterday afternoon. The weirdly garbed man rushed from the lupins, stopped, turned, and raced back into the lupins. He is described as being about Gft. in height, of solid build, and his hair appeared to be curly. He had no hat and his shirt was open. He ran through the lupins and seemed to be agitated. When he discovered he was observed he paused, and turned and darted back into the scrub; but he did not go far. Partially hidden, he peeped through the lupins, moving about from one vantage point to another and finally disappeared. BLOOD-STAINED SPANNER FOUND. A large body of police, armed with scrub-cutters, started early this morning to cut the scrub at the scene of the tragedy in an endeavour to find the weapon with which the murder was committed. Shortly after 3.30 p.m., however, a man named David Davidson picked up a large blood-stained spanner from a gorse bush near the edge of the road and about 20 yards from the spot where the murdered woman was found. The spanner, which had evidently been thrown into tho gorse bush, was held by the bi’anchgs. It was not two feet from the edge of the road, in plain sight, and it is remarkable that the weapon was not discovered earlier. Later in the afternoon, about fifty yards from the scene of the crime, a paper parcel containing a crust of bread, some cooked meat, ten empty condensed milk-tins, and a radio battery was also discovered in the gorse bushes lining the road. The evidence points to a man having lived in the locality, and that he is connected with the disappearance of newspapers and food from near-by houses. NO FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. Christchurch, Last Night. The inquest on the murdered woman, Gwendoline Scarff opened today, but only evidence of identification was taken and the inquest was adjourned. The polled to-day (located the two suitcases which belonged to the girl. She had removed them from the hotel where she had stayed and left them at the tramway luggage office in preparation, it is assumed, for an intended departure for Wellington on the evening of the day when she was murdered. It is said that the contents of the suitcases give no information of value. She ordinarily' carried a handbag and purse in which she kept her correspondence and snap- , shots, but both the handbag and the purse are missing. ' The police have investigated the story of the man inpyjama trousers seen at North Brighton on the day of the murder and they are satisfied he had nothing to do with it.

There have been no developments to-day.

VICTIM’S MYSTERIOUS MOVEMENTS. Christchurch, June 17. It has been established that Miss Searff stayed at the Hotel Federal from June 9 to June 14. Mr. T. W. Lewis, the proprietor, was approached, but he stated that he was unable to give any information at the moment. From other sources is was learned that Miss Searff had registered under an assumed name at the hotel. She left on Tuesday evening, having previously communicated with a taxi driver with whom she was acquainted. She informed certain female members of the staff that she was going l to Wellington. Nothing more was seen of her until the discovery of the body on Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday afternoon the police interviewed the driver of the taxi which called at the Federal Hotel for Miss Scarff on Tuesday evening and took a statement from him. Prom further inquiries made today it is learned that the girl stayed at the Federal Hotel under the name of Miss Armstrong. When she was recognised by a waitress she made certain disclosures and said that she intended leaving for the north with a man on Tuesday night. On Monday last the girl’s mother called at the hotel and urged her to return home, but the girl refused. The taxi driver who was interviewed by the police yesterday for eight hours on end told a reporter this morning that he had not seen Miss Searff since Saturday at noon and she then said she was going north. He had given the police his finger prints when asked to do so.