Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 24, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg tree press monday March 24, 1975 . Kidnapping leads to criticism of police Peter Deeley London while Brit Ain s economic future hangs in the balance in the Cruc Ial common Market negotiations a very different de Bate is grabbing the pub Lic s attention a Kidnap Ping turned murder that is last becoming the crime of the it is not Only the horrific manner in which 17-year old abducted heiress Lesley whittle died frightened to a pathologist has reported lied up like an animal in an underground sewer which has riveted the interest of the entire nation. People arc also concerned with the manner in which the police seem to have bungled the t w o p r o n g e d operation her recovery and then1 the manhunt for the killed. Early in. The search the kidnapper was said to be the Man who has become known Ai the Black pan ther because he wore dark clothes and a mask in a series of Post office robberies in which three men wer.4 shot dead. However the Scotland Yard officer now running the inquiry is not convinced of the link. Newspapers television and radio Are full of the latest details of the crime. It is an endless subject of debate in bars clubs and a t dinner tables. Serious newspapers have devoted leading articles to an examination of the police operation. The conserva t i v e daily Telegraph always a Strong supporter of the police declared there is justifiable cause for Public concern at a Case which Prima Facie would appear to show a Lack of co ordination be tween different police forces the proper Les sons must be from this harrowing the detective who until recently was leading the massive search for the killer has become a celeb Rity in his own right the Public knows he likes to Wear carpet slippers in his office that he lives in a White b u n g a 1 o w in a country Village that he has solved All the 70 murders that previously came his Way and that before his retirement in six months he would dearly have liked to Clear up this one. He is detective chief superintendent Robert Booth a cheery slightly theatrical personality who has crossed swords Many times with the press since Lesley was taken from her mid lands Home at gun Point january 14. Now however Over All command of the in Quiry has been handed to a top Scotland Yard Detec t i v e commander John Morrison m r Morrison head of the Yard s famed murder squad was called in by another police Force immediately after Lesley s body was found in its Terri tory. Many critics have at tacked or. Booth s West Marcia police for not ask ing for Yard help at the outset. If West Mercia s chief Constable Alex Ren Nie had wanted the Yard men All he had to do was to pick up the phone Scot land Yard is duty bound to respond to any request for assistance from an outside Force. But or. Rennie would have been very much guided by his own detective chiefs including or. Booth. Scotland Yard is the Headquarters of the metro Politan police which is not a National Force. Its work is concentrated within Lon Don and technically it can not enter another District without the permission of that area s police chief. Before local government boundaries were re drawn there were Many Small police forces without the re sources to tackle a major crime inquiry and it was common for the Yard to be called in immediately. Cost was a Factor if the Yard was asked for help in the Early Days of the investigation then the Bill was met by the taxpayer nationally if it was called in after a certain time had elapsed the Cost fell upon the inhabitants of the local District but now there Are fewer police forces and those that remain Are very Large with the manpower and facilities to do their own crime work. So Calls upon the Yard men to go out to the provinces become fewer and fewer. There is also the element of jealousy. A local Force would always rather solve the crime itself than have to depend upon the Lon Don advocates of a National British police service will feel the whittle Case has proved their argument. They will maintain too there should now be a Spe c i a 1 team of detectives Wilh expertise in Kidnap Ping just As there is for bombs hijackings and even Art thefts. One fact in the whittle Case pertinent to this whole argument stands out. When the girl s brother Ronald went on january 16 to de liver the pounds Stirling Ransom Money demanded by the kidnapper police shadowed him. He went to a mid lands Beauty spot known As Bat Pool Park but the kid Napper never showed up. At that moment the detectives had been led right to the front door of the kidnapper s Chain of underground drains. But their search of the Park was perfunctory at that time they did not know of the extent of the drainage system. It was Only 48 Days later when other bits of evidence began to emerge pointing to the Park that they went Back. This time Lesley s body a piece of wire round her neck with the other end securely tied to a stake was found. The police were late and much too late for Lesley. Freight cargo Duluth great laces freighters often carry More Han 50 million tons of Coal during a shipping season. Star distance Berkeley a Star nearest to the Earth May be about billion Miles Dis Tant. Available now a registered Home ownership savings plan for you. See your nearest Royal Bank manager for detail Royal Bank the helpful Bank Chantal Marcotte three of St. Chrysostome que., enjoys her first taste of Maple sugar As the annual sugar season begins in the Rural areas around Montreal. Coup talk sweeping Saigon 9s Rumor Mills by Peter Arnett Din i diem at his strongest. ___1_ __1__4 14. 4-Nnlp it no it Rel Saigon Apas the full extent of South Vietnam s Mili tary reverses become known talk of coup d eat is again sweeping Saigon s Rumor Mills and anti americanism is on the upswing. The general Public still seems stunned by the news from the front but those directly refugees streaming from the abandoned Central Highlands and the Mili tary men who have to answer All the questions about what went trying to fix the blame on someone. Most under fire is president Nguyen Van Thieu whose argument that overwhelmingly ook what it took to get rid of diem was overthrown in a military coup late in 1963 after several months of civil strife in Saigon. He was murdered in Captivity. Superior communist forces forced the Retreat has not been entirely accepted. We Are just wailing for a a vietnamese army col Onel said Here while blaming thick personally for the Deci Sions to Retreat. The loss of the Central High lands cities of Plesku and Kon turn was a particularly bitter Pill because not a shot was fired for either of them. And reports that the old Imperia capital of Hue would also be later borne out by a Saigon decision to Pul Back civil servants and cease re supplying the units deployed around the unhappiness. But experienced observer doubt Thieu is in any danger of being deposed right now. Who would Lake Over from him and what would he do March the troops Back to ban me t h u o t one observer asked. Ban me thenot was lost to the communists last week along with most of the South vietnamese 23rd division. Another observer said As suspension reduced Toronto up the University of Toronto discipline Appeal Board has reduced to two years each the suspensions of two students convicted last year of Dis ruling a lecture. Anthony Leah 25, and Wil Liam s c h a b a s 24. Both members of the students for a democratic society were sus Pended after they prevented Edward Banfield a professor at the University of Pennsyl Vania from speaking. Or. Leah had been suspended for three years and or. Schabas for four years. Both men told the Board earlier this month that they prevented the professor from speaking be cause of what they considered his racist views. The Board said it decided the severity of the suspensions was Paramount to expulsion and should be reduced. The Board said they engaged in disorderly and coercive conduct threats and harass ment and exceeded All reasonable Bounds in their pro test. A theory that Thieu gave up the Central Highlands in a dra Matic bid to Force More Ameri can Aid does not impress his critics. We just can t give up so easily without some kind o a colonel said. To people expect us to protect them and May accept a Mill tary defeat if it came Honora Bly in Battle. But Ranger troops fleeing from Plesku. And Korntum have complained to reporters they wer denied the Opportunity to fight. Particularly bitter at the government Are refugees from ban me Thuot who left thei a belief in their own rightness no matter How sin Cere does not justify or excuse the use of Slor trooper tactics to infringe Freedom of speech at the or. Leah who was working in a sociology masters degree Long As Thieu continues to p r o g r a m has been Supply have the solid backing of unit teaching in Toronto. Or. Schaed slates ambassador Graham Bas a former doctoral can Martin he will be totally in Power. Thieu today is stronger than former president Ngo diddle in history has been w r i t i n g for Montreal Trade journals. Families behind. We were told our depart or would Only be temporary. No1 we Are gone forever. Wha about my wife and said one vietnamese official a a refugee Camp in Nha Trang. Anti americanism is develop ing More out of fru Tralio than for any obvious reason. In Nha Trang the coastal resort City where thousands of Rufu fees trom the Highlands Are converging americans have been warned to move carefully and Only during the Day. Some vietnamese have started shouting epithets at Ameri cans there and officials be Lieve this and possibly violent acts might spread to other major cities. Always capable of placing byzantine interpretations o n events the vietnamese have been Quick to put the Ameri cans at the Centre of the cur rent military debacle. During the communist Tel offensive of 1968, Many Saigon residents believed the . Had plotted with the communists to allow them into the capital cily. This time the residents Are saying an american construction outfit that built High ways and other projects in South Vietnam for a decade has contracted to upgrade the to Chi Minn corridor from North Vietnam into the South. 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