MYSTERY OF MISSING ACCOUNTANT SOLVED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 173, 12 October 1927, Page 20

MYSTERY OF MISSING ACCOUNTANT SOLVED

BODY IN WAIMAKARIRI “WANTED” BY THE POLICE (Special to THE SUN.) CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. The body of. Lionel Vivian Com--erford, accountant,. who. . .was “wanted” by the police, was found in the Waimakariri -River to-day by two fishermen. A warrant was out for the arrest of Comorford on a charge of stealing £3OO, but he had not been seen since September 29. On October 1 a hat and coat were found on the northern bank of tho Waimakariri a mile below- Stewart’s Gully picnic grounds. Yesterday the detectives investigated the report that a man was seen in the stream about four miles south of Brooklands. E. West, a fisherman, of Stewart’s Gully, engaged with his nets at nine o’clock this morning, saw a body in the river with one foot caught in the fork of a willow tree under water. The discovery was made 400 yards below the spot where the hat and coat were found. The news was conveyed by a SUN reporter to Detective E. Thomas, who was engaged on the investigation. and when arrived at the river he had no difficulty in identifying the man as Co: nerford. Deceased was fully dressed. There was a diary in his hip pocket and a cheque book, two ten-shilling notes and a half-crown. A butt in the cheque book showed htat a cheque had been made out on September 29 for £224. Although the body had been in the water for some days, his pince-nez were still attached to one ear. Comerford was well known in Christchurch. in business and sporting circles. He was secretary to the Ward Brewery branch of the New Zealand Breweries, Ltd. Although th 6 warrant was issued in respect of £3OO. it is reported that there were defalcations amounting to some thousands of pounds.