Detective Canney’s interview with Jessica Harkness
Here’s a detective sent to an address to interview a woman linked to an unidentified man found dead in mysterious circumstances close by her home.
Police work. A possible murder. This is what a detective was trained for, to investigate. So what happened to his notes? Or was Canney a specially gifted policeman in the possession of a retentive memory? Even so, when he took the results of his interview back to the station somebody surely would have established a record of what was asked and what was said. (John Sanders?) A ‘Record of Interview’.
Did Canney show her a photo of the dead man? Did he describe the dead man in any detail? Did he ask if she knew him or had seen him lately? And the ROK with her phone number written on the back, did Canney have it with him to show her?
But no, all we have is the story of her boozy relationship with Boxall. Or am I missing something?
The Somerton Man .. 
In my view It was an informal vist to arrange for the bust ID? at the museum nothing more, this under strict instruction from the top. I have my reasons which don’t conflict with the Feltus book Canney involvement.
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Fair enough .. though if Canny had a copy of the photo of SM he would have been able to eliminate Boxall straight away. As it was they asked the Sydney police to not only interview Boxall at his work but accompany him back to his home and have to fight their way through a crowd of reporters camped on the street.
There’s the time gap between the two interviews. Harkness first, then the leak to the newspapers, then Boxall is confronted.
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“We’ll take it from here” when he got back
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I served with Canney’s son Peter Laurence Canney, bn. 46 in the late sixties overseas. Looks like he’s still known well in sporting circles and shouldn’t be difficult to track down, view to getting the low down on the SM case…Ref. Narrabunda circa 1963.
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Perhaps Canney did record his questions and Jessie’s replies in his notebook. But, someone in the pecking order decided, Canney’s notes would possibly ‘open a can of worms’, a can better left unopened. So, in time, his notes conveniently, like the ROK, disappeared.
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Promise not to blab about it Clive, especially to our erstwhile colleagues, Syph Horworst and the Dud who would be livid with envy and pan it as blatant lies. I got to know Errol Canney when he was the Senior Lecturer and Superintendent of Aust. Police College Manly in the early seventies when I studied there. Nice chap, liked a beer with the troops and didn’t mind relating to his halycon days as a ‘D’ in Adelaide and later when partnered with likes of the immortal Verbal Kelly whilst seconded to Sydney CIB Homicide..I think it was Jess what called Len Brown on the Sunday with her RNSW AB story after hearing about ‘Freeman’s reach’ and giving them her res. details which was acted upon by Angus St. next day. Scan Sutherland gave it to the press hounds and that’s how details got mixed up re when, where and how.
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It would have been interesting, I suppose, to know if the SA police logged all outgoing calls from X3239. Especially, any interstate calls to NSW, Vic etc.
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Anyone interested in Canney, you’ll find him at NAA under passenger arrivals (3 entries) for Errol Sydney Canney bn.1919. There’s quite a bit on him way back in Adelaide of the forties on Trove entries, including involvement with Tibor Kaldor, Keith Mangnoson, investigating a murder in Broken Hill, plus ligit freelancing as a debt collector while still in Sapol.
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I’m coming back around to Thomson’s car malarkery being at the centre of this….
25 Sept 1948 Thomson has a brand new car to swap for something suitable for a taxi (he’s taxied before and we see him Taxi later)
6 November, 12 November, 13 November he’s advertising his chauffeur service again (after nothing through October) – reasonable to assume he managed to get his taxi?
13 November, 27 Novemebr he’s also looking for a new house (anywhere, but will swap for Moseley St) – his taxi service seems to have paused
18 December – the Tudor Watch
1st Jan still wants out of Glenelg
5th Jan we’re back on the Taxis
(The coincidentally named Thompson who had identified SM as Walsh withdraws her identification in early Jan 1949)
I know NP went some similar directions with Pruzinski…..and maybe there’s still a connection
So consider (deliberately trying to add lots of angles that people can take tangents from):
– Thomson somehow acquires a brand new Vauxhall in September 1948
– Sometime between then and November he swaps his new car for a taxi
– A week later he’s worried and looking to sell up and move
– all the speculation about the Tudor watch (add in the other watches if you like)
– New Year and he’s still worried about something (or he prepaid the ad) – if SM is who he’s scared of, he doesn’t yet realise that SM is the body on the beach (or perhaps he’s scared of the same people who got SM?)
– Early Jan something has triggered him to think the threat has passed (and Leane is appointed to the case a couple days later – not that that’s related)
And then later
– Jun 11 (49) Prosper is advertising houses again
– Jun 15 Prosper is advertising country trips
– Jun 18 Prosper is looking for a gun
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You can inherit money and borrow it
You can buy and sell houses and cars to increase your wealth
Determined go-getter
Nothing links him to SM
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Microcode
Someone tell him (again)
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