“MAN WITH A SCAR”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 889, 5 February 1930, Page 9

“MAN WITH A SCAR”

SUSPECT OF GARAGE MURDER FOR TRIAL DRAMATIC ARREST LONDON, Tuesday. William Henry Podmore has been committed for trial on the charge of having murdered Vivian Messiter, whose body was found in a garage at Southampton in 1928. There was an extraordinary scene at the hearing this afternoon, when a big crowd, mostly of women, overwhelmed the police and rushed into the courthouse. For a brief space the disorder interfered with the hearing of the case.

Podmore is known in London as the “Man with a Scar.” He walked out of Wandsworth Prison, S.W., at 7.30 a.m. on December 18, after serving a sentence of six months’ hard labour for theft, and was immediately arrested on a charge of murdering Mr. Vivian Messiter, who was found dead in a locked garage at Southampton in January of last year. Podmore came out of the prison gates with 22 other discharged men, and had walked only a few steps when he was tapped on the shoulder by Chief-Inspector Prothero, of Scotland Yard. Podmore was obviously surprised. He had good reason to recognise the inspector, for he had many interviews with him in the early investigations into the mysterious death of Mr. Messiter. CAR BREAKS DOWN He was led to a waiting motor-car, handcuffed to Detective-Sergeant Young, and driven to Southampton. When the car was about six miles from Winchester it broke down. As the driver took some time to find the fault, Podmore, who has a wide knowledge of motor-cars, offered his assistance. “You have got an air lock in your petrol system,” he said. This was found to be the cause of the trouble, and it was quickly put right. Soon after 10 o’clock the car pulled up outside the police station at Southampton. Podmore waited in the charge room while the charge sheet "was made out and was then taken into court, which was empty as the public was unaware of the dramatic development.