A TURF SENSATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 February 1922, Page 5

A TURF SENSATION.

ALLEGED BETTING SWINDLE. MAN AND WIFE CHARGED. TIME OF BETS INVOLVED. By Telegraph.—Press Assin.—Copyright. London, Feb. 15. Owen Peel and his wife were charged at Bow Street in connection with the dispatch of 45 telegrams to various bookmakers backing Paragon in . the Duke of York Stakes, the prosecution alleging that the Peels ascertained by telephone that the horse had won before they presented the telegrams at a country post office. Some bookmakers paid out the bets; others questioned the time of lodgment and requested inquiries. It, was further alleged that Peel induced the postmaster to enter a false time of receipt on the messages. Counsel pointed out that the Post-master-General was prosecuting because the bookmakers were reluctant to do so as Peel was able to introduce business to bookmakers. Received Feb. 16, 7.35 p.m. London, Feb. 15. The Peel case is the biggest racing sensation for a long time. The court was crowded with well-known sporting and society people, and many fashionably dressed women stood throughout the sitting. Both defendants are young and selfpossessed, but the wife was pale, and sat with bent head. The case depends on the following vital facts: The race, timed for 2/50 p.m., was actually run at 3 o’clock, and the prosecution alleged that the telegrams were handed into the office after three o’clock, but the telegrams were actually timed 2.45. The prosecution allege that Mrs. Peel arranged with Dow, a young stockbroker friend, to telephone her at a village post office, and Dow accordingly booked a trunk call f/om his London club about 2.38 p.m. Dow, in sensational evidence, rather favored the prisoners. He said that when first he got on to the post office Mrs. Peel asked the name of the winner, and Dow replied that the result had not appeared on the tape. Dow gave evidence that he left the telephone box to find if the result was on the tape, but he said he did not remember telling Mrs. Peel the result of the race. On the contrary, he later telegraphed the result and the Drice to Mrs. Peel.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.