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The Nelson Photo News

 

34

Murder In Nelson

Somewhere between the hours of 9 and 11 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, Mr Peter Banham, a well–known Nelson taxi–driver and the father of four young children, met his death at the hands of an as yet unknown assailant, His body was discovered the next morning in Pugh's Road, Hope, bound and gagged, and with extensive head and throat wounds. His cab, used by Mr Banham to pick up a fare outside the Post Office shortly before 9 p.m., was discovered the same morning parked outside the rear of Messrs J. D. and L. Robertson's timber yard in Kerr Street.

Thus was sparked off what has become one of the most intensive murder investigations in New Zealand's criminal history. Under the direction of Detective Inspector A. I. Knapp, a New Zealand homicide squad commenced their investigations – investigations that have kept the lights of the C.I.B. office at the police station burning till the small hours of the morning. Thorough searches, and extensive routine Checks throughout New Zealand, uncovered a number of leads, but up to the time of this issue going to press, no arrest had been made.

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Pugh's Road, Hope, where on the morning of February 21 the police commenced their investigations

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Peter Banham as many Nelson brides know him

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Kerrs Road, Nelson, where a constable guards the alto where the taxi was found

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It appears that the taxi's route was up Eden's Road and round the corner into Pugh's Road. In Eden's road blood– stained newspapers and a hat (which did not belong to Mr Banham) were found on the roadway and close to them on the grass verge were found a tie, still knotted but cut, and a piece of one sleeve from Mr Banham's Jersey. It is believed from the crushed nature of the grass that a struggle may have occurred here.

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Eden's Road with the man at left standing opposite the grass in which the tie and the sleeve remnant were found, the distance from this spot to where the body was found was about 500 yards.

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A knife and pair of scissors were found in paint tins in Kerr Street a few yards from where the taxi was left.

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Flattened grass in Eden's Road with the tie (right) and sleeve remnant both ringed

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Detective Sergeant H. F. Lissette, fingerprint expert, inspected the taxi minutely

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Crew members of the Ionic, in port at the time, were questioned here and at other New Zealand ports.

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In the hopes of finding the weapon (or weapons) used, police combed paddocks in Pugh's and Eden's roads and cut down gorse and bracken.

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Early in the investigation the Commissioner of Police (Mr Spencer) and the head of the C.I.B., Chief Superintendent W. R. Fell, came to Nelson to get first–hand reports, The police also had a dog and its handler on hand should they be needed and at another stage in the investigation skin divers were used to search the sea bed at port berthages.

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Forest Service employees and police checked every inch of a vacant, rubble–strewn section close to where the cab was found

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Detective G. Gillies hears a report from the skin divers

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Messrs Fell, Spencer, and Chief Inspector F. W. Le Fort had several conferences

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Police dog Gem working with his handler in Kerr Street

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Latest aid in the identification. of suspects is this identification kit, brought to Nelson in the hopes that it could aid the police. The kit, on loan from the Canadian Mounted Police, has not been used in New Zealand before, although Mr Knapp has seen a similar type of kit being used at Scotland Yard, The kit is made up of hundreds of sheets of acetate on which are photographically reproduced all the facial features. When placed one on top of the other, an image can be formed from information supplied. Above Det–Sergt A. H. Hart, formerly of Nelson, demonstrates its useage.

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The funeral of Peter Banham was the largest seen in Nelson for many years