Handsome Brute: The True Story of a Ladykiller (40 page)

Brook’s patience was now wearing thin and he said that he wanted to leave. Suter and Johnson referred him to their senior officer, Detective Inspector Gates. At about 6.35 p.m., Gates told Brook that he would need to be searched.
¹⁴

‘I understand that your name is Brook. Have you any means of identification with you?’

‘No, I have nothing on me. But I have at the hotel. I have told your officers all about myself. My name is Rupert Robert Brook and I’m known at the Devonshire Club in London. I live in Leicester and have a banking account at the Westminster Bank there. Look, I admit that there is a resemblance to Clevely Heath. I have seen the police notice, but I am not this man, Heath.’

Gates searched him. All he had in his possession was four £1 notes, 3s. 6d. in silver, two three-penny pieces, a pipe and tobacco pouch, some Churchman cigarettes, a box of Swan matches, five-pence halfpenny in copper, a handkerchief and his sunglasses.
¹⁵

Brook asked if he could go back to the hotel and then come back to the station. Gates told him that enquiries were being made at the hotel by the police and he was being detained. Brook then said that he was feeling cold. Could somebody pick up his jacket for him? He had left it with the porter at the hotel, Harry Brown.

Gates arrived at the Tollard Royal at about 7 p.m. and sought out the porter. He handed Gates Brook’s brown sports jacket. Searching the pockets of the jacket, Gates came across what was to become some crucial – and damning – evidence. In the right-hand pocket of the jacket he found one half of a first-class return railway ticket (number 10130), valid for travel from Bournemouth back to Waterloo, issued on 28 June 1946 – the day that Doreen Marshall had travelled alone to Bournemouth. There was also a 4d. railway cloakroom ticket (number 0800) issued at Bournemouth West Railway Station on 23 June – the day that Brook had arrived in Bournemouth.
¹⁶

Just before 9 p.m., Gates arrived at Bournemouth West Station and interviewed William Gillingham, the chief clerk. Gates submitted the cloakroom ticket and took possession of a leather suitcase. Opening it, there was a soft hat, a mackintosh, a leather luggage-label holder bearing the name of ‘Heath’, and most significantly, a leather riding whip with a distinctive diamond-weave pattern – stained with blood.

There was now absolutely no doubt. They were holding Neville Heath, the most wanted man in the country.

Back at Bournemouth Police Station, DS Johnson received a call from Scotland Yard. It was exactly the information he had suspected. Nobody had ever heard of Group Captain Brook at Thurmaston. His entire story was false. Spooner told Johnson to detain Brook at any cost. He wanted them to go to the Tollard Royal and search Brook’s room for anything that might confirm his identity, but that there should be no further searches in order to preserve any evidence. Johnson returned to Brook, who was still talking with Suter.

‘Enquiries have been made from the particulars you have supplied about yourself and I am satisfied that they are false. You are
not
known at Leicester to the Auster aircraft company. No person by the name of Brook as test pilot is known to them. Nor do they know a Mr Walters. You will be detained pending further enquiries as to your identity since I believe you to be the man, Clevely Heath. Is that your name?’

‘Well, I am not Heath,’ said Brook.

Johnson replied, ‘Would you care to furnish any further particulars regarding your identity? You can if you wish. If you still maintain you are not Heath, someone will shortly be able to come to this station and confirm that.’

‘I do not want to give any other particulars. If someone is coming down here who knows this man Heath, that will be sufficient proof. Surely it’s no criminal offence to give false particulars of identity?’

‘Yes it is. If false particulars are entered into an hotel registration book.’

‘How do you know that I have? Have you been up there?’

‘Yes.’
¹⁷

Stumped by the cold, hard facts, Brook made no further comment. At 9.15 p.m., Gates arrived back at the police station and approached Brook, who was with DS Johnson.

‘From my enquiries I am satisfied that you are Neville George Clevely Heath. Wanted for interview by the Metropolitan Police in connection with the murder of Margery Gardner during the night of the 20 June 1946. You will be detained until officers arrive from London.’

Heath simply replied, ‘Oh. All right.’

Johnson now began to enter Brook’s details onto the charge sheet and asked Gates what name he should write. ‘Should I enter the name of Brook?’

Gates advised, ‘He
says
his name is Rupert Robert Brook, use that unless he prefers his proper name.’

Johnson asked what name the suspect himself would prefer to be entered on the charge sheet?

‘Oh. Heath. Neville George Clevely-Heath. The surname should be hyphenated.’

At 10 p.m. Johnson took Heath’s trousers to check for evidence and gave him a substitute pair. Gates then presented Heath with the return half of Doreen’s railway ticket.

‘This ticket was in your jacket pocket. Can you tell me how you became possessed of it?’

Thinking quickly, he said, ‘I found it in the lounge at the Tollard Royal Hotel.’

‘When and where?’

‘On a seat in the lounge on Thursday last.’
¹⁸

It was a plausible answer – he’d admitted he had sat with Doreen in the lounge on Wednesday and she might have simply dropped the ticket from her handbag.

At about 10.30 p.m., Gates asked him whether he would be able to make a statement regarding Doreen Marshall’s disappearance. Heath replied that he would. In some contrast to his earlier off-hand attitude, he started writing this statement with great care at 11.50 p.m. and was still writing and examining his statement when Spooner’s car arrived at Bournemouth at 1.30 a.m. the next morning.

Leaving him to finish the statement, Spooner and Symes were greeted by several members of the Bournemouth police including Gates, Suter and Johnson. They were handed the suitcase which Gates had recovered from the railway station. Examining it, Spooner found three leather luggage labels with the names
Capt N. G. C. Heath, Major N. G. C. Heath
and
Captain J. R. C. Armstrong
. The latter had
N. G. C. Heath London
written on the reverse.
¹⁹
As well as the bloodstained whip, there was a blue woollen scarf with traces of blood and nasal slime as well as a blue neckerchief, also bloodstained – both of which had been used for tying.
²⁰

Spooner and Symes went directly to the Tollard Royal and searched Room 81, going through all Heath’s belongings. Significant among his possessions were his flying helmet and an escape scarf that had been used as a tie. Some khaki webbing straps with no obvious purpose were also found. Spooner and Symes also recovered an extraordinary number of handkerchiefs – forty-nine in all. Most of these were womens’ and bore traces of lipstick.
²¹
Many were monogrammed. In the middle drawer of the dressing table, Spooner discovered a handkerchief that had been tied into a knot and had recently been cut with a knife – on it were traces of blood and soil, as if it had been dragged across the ground. This bore the letters A. R. M., the first three letters of Neville Heath’s South African alias, Armstrong. Also in this drawer were two pieces of string that had been freshly cut.
²²

At 3 a.m. DS Johnson met Spooner in the CID office and gave him Heath’s jacket. From the left-hand pocket, Spooner recovered some things that hadn’t been noticed before – a caterpillar badge and a single artificial pearl, as if from a ladies’ necklace.
²³
Once Heath’s statement about the disappearance of Doreen Marshall had been completed, at 5.20 a.m., Reg Spooner finally came face to face with the man who had filled his days and sleepless nights since 21 June.

‘You are Heath?’

‘Yes.’

‘I am investigating the murder of Margery Gardner in your room at the Pembridge Court Hotel on the night of the 20–21 June last. I think you are in a position to give me some information about it.’

‘Yes, I will make a statement after I have had some sleep. I was there but I am not admitting I did it.’

Heath was allowed to sleep until 8 a.m. They were then driven back to London, with Heath sitting in the back of the Wolseley between Spooner and Symes, speaking very little and occasionally dozing. When he did speak, Heath addressed Symes, the more junior officer to whom he was handcuffed. He never spoke directly to Spooner. Arriving in Notting Hill at 11.25 that morning, Spooner reminded Heath that he had said he would make a statement about the murder of Margery Gardner. Heath said he was willing to make a statement, but wanted time to think the matter over. At 3 p.m., Spooner challenged Heath with the letter he had sent to Scotland Yard.

‘Did you write this letter to Superintendent Barratt?’

‘Yes.’

‘In it you refer to the instrument used on the woman Margery Gardner and you say you are forwarding it to the Yard. Did you do so?’

‘No.’

‘Where is it?’

‘It’s in one of my cases. I’ll get it later on.’

‘I will get it for you so you can see if it is the one you mean.’

‘There’s no need, it is the one.’

Spooner fetched the whip and presented it to Heath.

‘That’s it.’

‘Do you wish to continue with your statement?’

‘I am still thinking about it and I’m tired.’

Spooner left, returning later that evening. He wanted Heath to account for his movements during the night of 20–21 June, but after co-operating for a while, Heath said he realized the gravity of his position. He didn’t want to say more until he had taken legal advice after he had been charged – and he was certain now that he would be charged. Spooner left him at 8 p.m. Throughout the day, Shelley Symes had been taking notes of everything Heath had said. Heath looked through this statement repeatedly, paragraph by paragraph. Finally he signed it.

At 12.30 on Monday morning, Heath was led into the billiards room at Notting Hill Police Station by Inspector James Stone and placed in an identity parade with eleven other men of similar age, height and build. He was allowed to take any position and chose to stand sixth from the right. Spooner and Symes were also present, as observers only.

Harold Harter, the taxi driver, was asked to take a good look at all the men, and then to touch the man he had picked up with Margery Gardner outside the Panama Club.
²⁴
Without hesitation, Harter went straight to Heath and touched him on the chest with his right hand. Stone asked if he had any doubt, but Harter was clear: ‘That is the man.’ Harter was then escorted out of the building. Stone asked if Heath would like to change his position before the next witness arrived, but Heath just shook his head. Solomon Josephs, the receptionist of the Panama Club, was brought into the billiards room and again, Stone asked him to touch the person that he recognized in connection with the case. Again, with no hesitation, Josephs walked directly to Heath and touched him on the chest. Immediately after Heath had been positively identified by Harter and Josephs, Spooner approached him again.

‘You know who I am. I am now going to charge you with murdering Margery Aimee Brownell Gardner at the Pembridge Court Hotel during the night of Thursday to Friday, 20 to 21 June 1946.’

Spooner then cautioned him. Heath simply said, ‘I have nothing to say at the moment.’
²⁵

At West London Magistrates’ Court, the matrimonial court that was in session that afternoon was cancelled and the courtroom opened to the public. Crowds were already gathered around the court building when Heath arrived in a police car, handcuffed to Shelley Symes and smoking a pipe. He appeared before Paul Bennett, and was charged with the murder of Margery Gardner. He was remanded until 23 July. Asked if he required legal aid, he refused, saying, ‘I think I can manage it, sir.’
²⁶
After the hearing he fumbled for his pipe and puffed on it composedly as he was driven through the crowds back to Brixton Prison.

Early that evening, Reg Spooner sat down to write to his wife and daughter. They were currently away on the aborted family holiday that he had promised they would take together when he was demobilized.

At last success has come in this job and only two hours ago I charged Heath with the murder of Margery Gardner. I have just returned from the police court after seeing him remanded. It has all been a tiresome and worrying business and what with the sudden dash to Bournemouth for him and other things my last night’s sleep was the first since Friday night. Anyway, I daresay you have read about it all in the press. There is still an immense amount of work to be done in it, but at least we have the satisfaction of having got Heath – and there is more in it than is generally known although this morning’s papers were making inferences. The job has done me quite a bit of good and I am getting congratulations from high and low.

The press say it is one of the best stories for years.
²⁷

With Heath under arrest, it was clear that the disappearance of Doreen Marshall was now a murder enquiry. Bournemouth police announced that they were not looking for anybody else in connection with the case. With no admission from Heath and Metropolitan Police enquiries focused on the murder in Notting Hill, they concentrated on searching the sea-front cliffs west of the Tollard Royal Hotel and the wooded chines leading down to the beach. Digby, Scotland Yard’s famous bloodhound, was also engaged ‘in the greatest hunt which the world-famed organization has ever known in its history’. But even Digby failed to sniff out any leads and gave up the chase, withdrawing ‘in shame’ to his home near Winchester.