Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Reading

by John J Eddleston

  Alfred Oliver, the dead man. Author’s Collection

  Anne didn’t touch anything and ran to George Taylor’s cafe at 29 Cross Street. Both Mr Taylor and his wife, Nellie, went back to the tobacconist’s to see if they could offer any assistance. Anne and George lifted Alfred by gently grabbing him beneath the arms and placing him in a chair in the dining room at the back of the shop. Meanwhile, the doctor was sent for.

  Constable Frank Chandler was off duty and shopping at 19 Cross Street when Nellie Taylor rushed in. She was very agitated and asked the manager to telephone for the police. No sooner had she said this, than she recognised Chandler and asked him to come back to the shop with her, saying that Mr Oliver had been attacked and was badly hurt.

  Constable Chandler followed Nellie back to the tobacconist’s and saw Alfred, in a chair in the back room. The poor man was still bleeding rather badly from a head wound but Chandler, having made a quick search of the shop, found no weapon, which might have accounted for the injuries Alfred had suffered. Told that the police and a doctor had been sent for, Chandler then waited until more senior officers arrived.

  The inside of the shop where the attack took place. Author’s Collection

  Another view of the inside of Alfred Oliver’s shop, showing the stock shelves. Author’s Collection

  The next officer on the scene was Detective Sergeant Oliver Pope. He noted blood splashes on the showcases and the stock at the rear of the shop. He also saw a broken pair of scales on the floor and smears of blood on the outside of a carton of cigarettes. There was no sign of any struggle, and the stock was apparently undisturbed.

  In due course, the Chief Constable, Thomas Alfred Burrows, arrived at the shop. He spoke to Alfred, who was still semiconscious, and asked him what had happened. Alfred managed to reply: ‘There was a man came in. I thought he was from the gas office.’

  A map of the area where the crime took place. Author’s Collection

  Alfred said that he didn’t wish to go to hospital but when Dr Stansfield attended, he insisted that the injured man be taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital for urgent treatment. Annie was taken to the same hospital in the Chief Constable’s car but later was told to go back to the shop and come back at 10.00pm when the medical team would know more. By the time she got back to Cross Street, she found that the police had tidied the scene but it was then she checked the till, kept beneath the shop counter, and found that all the notes were missing.

  Normally, a piece of card rested in the till, used to separate the ten shilling and one pound notes. That piece of card had been removed from the till, presumably with all the notes, and then discarded onto the shop counter, after the notes had been stolen. When Anne lifted the card, she found a half-crown piece beneath it.

  Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Constable William Charles Parfitt had been left with Alfred. At one stage, Alfred said to the constable: ‘I was in the room behind the counter when Mrs Oliver went out to Well Street, leaving me to clear away the tea. I had an attache case on the table, containing about thirty pounds in notes and silver, which I last saw just before tea, when I got some change for a man. I think he was from the gas office.’ Later still, at around 9.00pm, Alfred was able to add that he had been sitting in the shop, reading a book, at six o’clock or five minutes past. He could recall the name of the book, A Day from London to Penzance, but could not remember when, how, or by whom he had been attacked.

  At 10.30pm that same evening, 22 June, Dr James Leonard Joyce operated on Alfred, in order to clean up the head wound. Alfred then spent a quiet night in hospital and was conscious on the morning of Sunday 23 June. That evening, however, at 6.00pm, almost exactly twenty-four hours after he had been attacked, Alfred Oliver died from his injuries. The police were now investigating a case of murder.

  It was obvious that this might prove to be a difficult case to solve so, on the same day that Alfred Oliver died, the Chief Constable requested assistance from Scotland Yard. That plea resulted in Chief Inspector James Berrett and Detective Sergeant John Harris being despatched to Reading, from London. The two officers arrived at the murder scene on the evening of 23 June.

  By the time Berrett and Harris arrived at 15 Cross Street, all the bloodstains had been cleaned up. However, the two officers made a thorough inspection of the premises.

  Berrett noted that the shop counter was nine feet six inches long, three feet high and two feet six inches wide. It formed a well between the shop and the dining room at the rear and stood out some two and a half feet from the stock shelves.

  The shop window was enclosed by a wooden partition which meant that the space between that and the end of the counter was such that only one person could be there at any time. If, as had been explained, Alfred Oliver positioned his chair at that point, then that chair would have to be moved in order to allow anyone to pass in to the space behind the counter.

  The position of the blood splashes on the stock shelves indicated that Alfred had been standing between two showcases when he was attacked. Berrett came to the conclusion that Alfred had been struck from in front. This seemed to be confirmed by the fact that there were blood splashes on a mat in front of the counter, and the finding of the book Alfred had been reading, underneath the counter, open at the page he had reached. The implication was that Alfred Oliver had been sitting in the chair when a customer came in. He stood to attend to that customer, putting his book beneath the counter. He was then attacked. The scales were knocked onto the floor and broken during that attack and the assailant then grabbed the money from the till.

  No sooner had the police investigation begun that it seemed that a solution had been reached. At 4.30pm on Monday 24 June, Owen Roberts, a sixty-one-year-old tailor of no fixed abode, walked into Pangbourne police station and admitted that he was responsible for the murder in Reading. He then made a full written statement to the police, which was so filled with inaccuracies and invention that he was obviously inventing the story. Roberts claimed, amongst other things, that he had committed the crime at 9.30pm, and the man he had attacked had a beard. Roberts, in fact, was drunk and once he had sobered up, admitted that none of what he had said was true. The police, rather kindly, released Roberts and put him on a bus home.

  The inquest on the dead man opened at 2.45pm, on Tuesday 25 June, before the Borough Coroner, Mr John Lancelot Martin. Only two witnesses were called. Evidence of identity was given by Mr Arthur William Crouch, Nellie Oliver’s brother. He was followed to the stand by Dr Joyce who had performed the post-mortem. He described thirteen lacerations on the dead man’s scalp, and three large depressed fractures of the skull. The cause of death was those multiple fractures and severe cerebral contusions. The wounds had been caused by a blunt instrument and were consistent with the use of a hammer, a spanner, a jemmy or some other heavy metal object.

  Before the proceedings were adjourned, the coroner issued an appeal to anyone who could assist the police in their inquiries, to come forward without delay. He specifically asked for motorists to come forward, who might have given a lift to someone with bloodstained clothing.

  In the days after the inquest had closed, two pieces of information came into the hands of Chief Inspector Berrett. The first snippet came from Percy Taylor, who lived at 160 Friar Street. He told the police that he had given Alfred Oliver a cheque, for £1, at 1.45pm on the day of the murder. No trace of this cheque had been found and it was assumed that the person who took the banknotes from the till might also have taken the cheque. True, that cheque might been thrown away afterwards but Barclays Bank were asked to keep an eye out for it in the clearing system. The other piece of information was that a young man had been inside the shop at the approximate time of the murder.

  George Charles Jeffries’ name had been given to the police as a man suspected of having hit his sister over the head with a jemmy. He had also been seen near the shop, at the relevant time. Jeffries was questioned and admitted that he had been in the shop a minute or two before 6.10pm o
n the day Alfred had been attacked. He had gone in to buy some cigarettes but there seemed to be no-one there to serve him. He had had a half-crown in his hand, and after waiting for a minute or so, he knocked on the counter to attract someone’s attention.

  Hearing a noise, Jeffries looked over and saw Mr Oliver lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He immediately ran out of the shop, without reporting what he had seen, and went home. Once there, he told his mother, Emily, what he had seen but said he was too frightened to go to the police.

  On the evening of 25 June, the same day that the inquest had been opened and closed, Jeffries finally told his story to Chief Inspector Berrett, explaining that there was another reason he had not come forward. At the time, his sister was critically ill in hospital and Jeffries had been very worried about her. For the time being at least, his story was accepted.

  Two days later, on 27 June, Alfred Oliver was laid to rest in Reading Cemetery after a service at All Saints’ Church, Downshire Square, conducted by the Reverend George Edwin Jenkins.

  The investigation continued and over a period of days, a number of witnesses came forward to describe a man in a blue suit, seen in and around Cross Street on the day of the murder.

  William George Loxton was a butcher trading from premises at 19 Cross Street, Reading. He had seen Mr Oliver at around 9.00am on the day of the attack. Later that same day, at round 1.30pm, a man came in and asked William for some calves liver but then didn’t wait to be served and headed off in the direction of Friar Street. The man had an accent and later still, at about 6.00pm, William had seen the man again, in Bradley’s, which was opposite Alfred Oliver’s shop.

  William happened to be looking out of his window and saw the man leave Bradley’s and head for his butcher’s shop. Then, suddenly, the man changed direction and headed off towards Oliver’s tobacconists. It would then be about 6.00pm. Soon after this, Nellie Taylor came in and took Constable Chandler across to the scene of the attack.

  According to William Loxton, the man he had seen was about five feet eight inches tall. He had dark hair, a sallow complexion, a full clean-shaven face and long, dishevelled hair. He wore a navy blue suit, with brown shoes and a collar and tie. As for the accent William had heard, that might have been American.

  Thomas Harold Windle was a sanitary inspector, but on the day of the attack, he had been in Reading with his wife and child. Thomas had arranged to meet his brother and walked up and down Cross Street whilst he was waiting. During that time he saw a man behaving rather oddly. Thomas assumed the man had been drinking as he was looking into various shop windows and mumbling to himself. The man had a raincoat draped over his shoulders like a cape and Thomas watched as he went into the Welcome Café. He described the man as five feet eight inches tall, with a full, red, rather swarthy face and wearing a dark coloured suit. This all took place at around 4.40pm.

  Kathleen Earl had also seen a man she described as being drunk, in Cross Street. He was walking in the middle of the road, muttering to himself. It was then around 5.30pm. She went into Loxton’s butcher’s shop, and when she came out, the man was at the end of Cross Street, close to the junction with Broad Street.

  Dorothy Gladys Irene Shepherd was also in Cross Street on 22 June and her evidence might prove to be of crucial importance. She was looking into a shop window at around 6.15pm when she saw a man running out of Alfred Oliver’s shop. He ran off towards Friar Street but she didn’t see the man’s face. He was wearing a navy blue serge suit.

  The most important witness of all, however, was probably Mrs Alice James. She had also been in Reading town centre on 22 June. At around 6.10pm she passed Oliver’s tobacconist’s shop. There were very few people around at the time and, as she passed the shop, she saw a man standing inside the doorway, wiping blood from his face. The man was fairly tall, quite stout and wore dark clothing. Alice estimated his age as somewhere between forty and fifty. He wore no hat or glasses and had dishevelled hair. Shown a photograph of the dead man, Alice swore that this was not the man she had seen in the doorway.

  Over the next few weeks, a number of what proved to be false leads, came into the hands of the police. Thus, for example, Frederick Charles Miles contacted the police at Twickenham, saying that he had been speaking to a man named Sidney Walter Coe who claimed to know who had committed the crime. When Coe was interviewed he told a story of three knife-grinders who had no money before the murder, but lots of it afterwards. A check on Coe’s background soon showed that his story was an invention and as for Miles, the man who had first gone to the police, he had been a recent inmate of a mental hospital.

  As June turned into July, the investigation slowed to a halt and little new information came in. Then, purely by chance, the name of a prime suspect was given to the Chief Constable himself.

  A description of the mysterious man, seen by a number of people in Cross Street, had been published in all the local newspapers. On 19 July, almost a month after the crime had been committed, Chief Constable Burrows was in the Wellington Club in Friar Street, when a fellow member approached him and said that the description matched an actor who had recently appeared at the Royal County Theatre in a play entitled The Monster. Further, the informant could put a name to the actor. He was an American named Philip Yale Drew.

  Philip Yale Drew, who was suspected of the murder. This picture is taken from his identity card. The National Archives

  Another picture of Drew, in his guise as Young Buffalo. This picture is also taken from his identity card. The National Archives

  Philip Drew had had quite a successful career in the United States. He had made a number of films, most of them Westerns, where he played the role of Young Buffalo. An accomplished actor, he had been in England a number of years but his fondness for drink meant that his career was now rather slowing down and he now took fairly minor stage roles.

  A quick police check showed that Drew had arrived in Reading on 16 June 1929, and lodged at 9 King’s Meadow. He had left the town on Sunday 23 June, the day after the attack upon Alfred Oliver and further checks showed that the theatrical company he was a member of was now in St Helens but would, on 22 July, move on to Nottingham.

  On 23 July, confirmation came from the police at Nottingham that the play’s company had duly arrived in the city and that Drew was still a member of the cast. The following day, 24 July, Detective Sergeant Harris and Chief Constable Burrows, drove down to Nottingham. That same night, an officer followed Drew from the theatre, after his performance, and noted that he was now lodging at 37 Fox Road, West Bridgford. The next morning, Thursday 25 July, three officers, including Sergeant Harris, called on Drew at his lodgings and took him to the police station to be interviewed.

  The interview lasted for around three hours before Drew was allowed to leave. He performed, as usual, on stage that evening and the next day, 26 July, he was interviewed for a second time. Whilst that interview was taking place, officers collected a blue serge jacket which Drew had left at a cleaner’s in Nottingham. That same evening, Sergeant Harris returned to Reading, taking the jacket with him for examination. In fact, no trace of blood was ever found on the garment, though it had already been cleaned.

  The theatre company left Nottingham and moved on to Bolton, where they arrived on 29 July. From there they moved on again, on 4 August, to St Albans. It was there, on 7 August, that Drew was interviewed for a third time. It was by now clear that Drew was the chief suspect, at least as far as the police were concerned, and eventually it was decided that Drew should return to Reading, as an important witness at the reconvened inquest.

  The adjourned inquest reopened on Wednesday 2 October 1929, with Mr Martin once more in charge. The first two witnesses were the two gentlemen who had given evidence at the first hearing. First, Arthur Crouch repeated his evidence of identification and then Dr Joyce detailed the injuries Alfred Oliver had suffered.

  The first new witness was Annie Oliver, the dead man’s wife. She said again that she had served six c
ustomers, all men, whilst her husband was clearing away the tea things. She then took the dog outside, not returning to the shop until 6.15pm. Since she had left the shop at around 6.05pm, the attack must have taken place within that gap of ten minutes.

  Afterwards a number of police witnesses gave evidence, including Chief Inspector Harry Battley, of the fingerprint bureau. He had discovered a bloodstained imprint on a showcase inside the shop, which police had first belived had come from the killer, but tests had shown that this belonged to George Taylor, who had come into the shop to give assistance after Alfred had been injured.

  In fact, this point illustrated just how foolish part of the investigation had been. During Drew’s interview, a piece of blank paper had been left in the room whilst Drew was alone. The hope was that he would, out of curiosity, pick the paper up, leave behind his prints and that these would then be checked against the bloody imprint found at the scene.

  Twenty-one-year-old George Jeffries, and his mother, Emily, were the next two witnesses. He repeated his story of seeing Alfred injured in the shop, but being too frightened to report it. His mother said that when he returned home he was very frightened and had changed his clothes but swore that there were no stains of any kind on the items he had removed.

  The witnesses who had seen the strange man in and around Cross Street were then called. William Loxton spoke of the man with the accent who had come into his shop. However, when asked if he could see the man in court, Loxton pointed to Drew and said that he was certain that he was the man. The first identification of Philip Drew had been made. At that point, the inquest was adjourned until the following day.