A SHATTERED ROMANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1922, Page 7

A SHATTERED ROMANCE.

MARRIED MAN’S DUPLICITY. WIDOW DEFRAUDED OF £27. The story of a widow’s romance which was shattered when she learnt that her lover was a married man. with a wife and three children, was unfolded in the Magistrate’s Court, Christchurch, last week, before Mr. V. G. Day, S.M. Harvey Roland Birch Miles, twenty-nine years of age, a married man, was charged with having, between September 1 and October 1, 1921, with intent to defraud, obtained from Margaret Elizabeth Phillips the sum of £27 Ils in money, by falsely representing that he was going to England to get money left to him under his mother’s will.

Detective-Sergeant Connolly conducted the prosecution. / Margaret Elizabeth Phillips, a widow, residing at Creasy Terrace, Lyttelton, said she had six chiMren, and her husband had been dead about three yea*rs. She acquainted with the accused by answering an advertisement in one of the local papers, and met him in June, 11)20. The accused promised to marry her. He told her that he wanted to go home to England and asked if she could help him. He told her that he had money coming to him in England by his mother’s will. Eie did not mention any sum, but made it out to be a good amount. She gave him money on different occasions, the total amounting to £27 Ils. She would not have given him this money if he had told her he was married, neither would she have had anything to do with him. The accused told her he was a widower. Witness produced a bundle of letters and telegrams from the accused to her. On October 3, 1921, the accused came to her house and said good-bye. stating that he was leaving by the ferry boat that night to go to England. He told her he was going to get the money left him under his mother’s will, and said he would write to her at the first port of call. She received no letters at all from him, and became suspicious. She inquired, at the .shipping offices to see if he had gone. She found out on December 28 that he was a married man, and that his wife and children were living in Christchurch. She also found that his mother was also living with him. She then reported the matter to the police. Leslie Gordon Newman, acting detective, stationed at said he and Acting-Detective Thompson arrested the accused. Accused said: “I will tell you the truth about it.” He made a statement, which he signed. The statement made by the accused was to the effect that he was a married man with a wife and three children, having married his wife in the Christchurch Registry Office on March 4. 1918. Towards the end of the year 1920 he put a personal notice in one of the l«cal papers. requesting to correspond with a widow for the purpose of friendship. He received a reply from Mrs. Phillips, and met her by appointment at the Christchurch railway station. They became friendly, and he began to visit her at her home in Lyttelton. On three or four occasions she gave him money. He told her he was boarding with a Mrs. Brown and the money was to carry on with until he got the money which had been left to him in England under his mother’s will. He wished to say that the statement about the will in England was absolutely untrue, and he was sorry for making it.

The accused pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

An application was then made by Mr. Oracroft Wilson on behalf of Mrs. Phillips for an affiliation order against the accused. An order was made accordingly, maintenance being fixed at the rate of 12s 6d per week.