BODY IN LIFT.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 309, 15 December 1936, Page 5

BODY IN LIFT.

Jockey’s Death In Mysterious Circumstances. Auckland, December 14. A'former well known jockey', Mr John Tilsley, aged 42, a married man living a.t Nelson Avenue, Auckland, was found dead in a lift in City Chambers on Saturday night. Mystery surrounds the manner of his death, and although inquiries were made throughout to-day by detectives .the problem was not solved. The body' was found at about 10 p.m. by the caretaker of the building, Mr L. Carr, who was on his rounds. It was lying in a goods lift, which was stopped at the second floor. The head was crushed, and it appeared as if Mr Tilsley might have met his death wile trying to operate the lift, which is a manual on£ worked by pulling a wire rope.

Mr Tilsley rode the winner, To Onga, in the Great Northern Hurdles in 1914. He had recently been doing contracting work in the country'. He was in the habit, of visiting one of the offices in the building fairly frequently. Although the detectives’ iquiries failed to show how Mr Tilsley met his death, there is reason to believe .that while ascending in the lift he was jammed between the side of the lift and the plaster wall of the building and then fell back to the floor of the lift.

Mr Tilsley had been on relief work for the last two years. He was married with five young children. An inquest was opened to-day by Mr K. K. Hunt, coroner. After identification by a brother, Robert. Tilsley, it was adjourned sine die for a post-mortem examination.