Famous Murder Trials

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 492, 23 October 1928, Page 1

Famous Murder Trials

PUBLIC TAKEN BEHIND THE SCENES “Policemen are Not Super-Human” (United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian anS N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Received 12.45 p.m. LONDON, Monday. rIE Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Archibald Bodkin. Spring evidence before the Police Commission, took the public behind the scenes in several famous murder cases He mentioned the Vaquien and Byfleet murders and that of Constable Gutteridge.

<THE chairman ot the Commission, -*■ Viscount Lee of Fareham, said that apparently in the latter case the police charged Browne and Kennedy with theft when they were really concerned about the murder. They had the murder charge up their sleeves, hut got at Browne and Kennedy by charging them with lesser crimes. Sir Archibald Bodkin raised his hand in a gesture of protest, and said he could not accept the expression "got at.'* It was in a man’s own interest to explain the possession of revolvers at the earliest opportunity. Viscount Lee asked was it considered convenient, when a man was suspected of a grave crime, to charge him with a lesser offence in order to have a better opportunity of questioning him? “In order to get him under lock and key,” added Sir Reginald Poole. “There are cases when the police suspect a man, but if the police find that he has committed other crimes it is their duty to arrest him,” replied Sir Archibald. “He can then be questioned regarding the other matter —under lock and key,” he added. “I think this is a first-rate procedure from the public viewpoint.” He emphatically denied the existence of the third degree, declaring that judges never once sustained such a plea.

Viscount Lee remarked that it was one person's word against another’s.

Sir Archibald replied: “It is the Court’s business to discover credibility.” Sir Reginald Pcole suggested that a policeman’s good character helped him against a prisoner. Sir Archibald Bodkin: “Put bluntly, that’s perjury.” Sir Reginald: The safeguards do not prove that a policeman does not commit perjury. Sir Archibald expressed the opinion that it was unlikely that an officer would deceive the judge, counsel or jury. Sir Reginald Poole asked under what statute were people detained. Sir Archibald: There is ho statute. It is practice and common sense. Commissioner Pick: It is illegal. Sir Archibald: It is not illegal. Sir Reginald Poole: It is not sanctioned by statute. Sir Archibald: A great many things In our law do not have the sanction of a statute, and it is a good thing, too. He expressed the opinion that the police were fully competent to interpret the true sense of the people’s statements. Viscount Lee said that Sir Archibald Bodkin was Inclined to attribute superhuman powers to policemen. Few people were able to Interpret the human mind.