Free Silent Witnesses by Nigel McCrery

five hours prior to the discovery of the body. Because he had been holding his notepad and pencil when found, it was deduced that Gutteridge had stopped a car and had been about to record details when he was shot. The bullets and the cartridge case were handed over to the foremost ballistics expert of his day, Robert Churchill, for examination. Although deformed, the bullets retained sufficient rifling characteristics for Churchill to establish that they had been fired from a Webley revolver.
    A full-scale hunt for the killer—or killers—began. From the outset the murder was connected with the theft of a Morris Cowley car, registration number TW6120, which had been stolen on the same night from the garage of Dr. Edward Lovell in Billericay (about ten miles away from the scene of the crime). Neighbors remembered the sound of a car being driven off at high speed during the early hours of the morning. By the time the car had been reported stolen later that morning, however, it had already been found—in Brixton, South London. The left fender had been damaged, and blood traces were discovered on the bodywork. The car’s odometer also showed that it had been driven forty-two miles—the precise distance of a direct journey from Dr. Lovell’s garage to Brixton.
    The police searched the car and discovered a cartridge case inside. It appeared to have been scarred by some kind of fault in the breechblock of the gun that had fired it. This mark resembled a jockey’s cap; because of the significance it would later have in the case, the crime became known as the Jockey Cap Murder. The cartridge also carried the letters RLIV, which signified that it was of an old Mark IV type and had been made in Woolwich Arsenal at the Royal Observatory for use in the First World War.
    The murder hunt went on for four gruelling months—at one point DCI Berrett and his assistant Sergeant Harris worked for 130 out of 160 consecutive hours. They came to suspect two car thieves, Frederick Browne (46) and Pat Kennedy (42), but lacking any evidence against them were unable to take things further. Two Webley revolvers were found in the River Thames, but Churchill proved that neither of them could have been the murder weapon because neither made the tell-tale jockey-cap mark on a cartridge case.
    However, the fortunes of the investigation changed when, on January 20, 1928, police arrested Frederick Browne at his garage near Clapham Junction on suspicion of stealing a Vauxhall car. Browne had convictions for insurance fraud, stealing cars, violence, and, most significantly, for carrying firearms. He was searched, and twelve .45 cartridges were discovered in his back pocket. After this a further search was made of his car, and a fully loaded Webley revolver was found inside the driver’s door. More police officers were now called in. As a result, a further sixteen .45 cartridges were discovered wrapped in paper in the office of the garage. Twenty-three .22 cartridges were found as well, in addition to a small revolver. Finally, asearch of Browne’s lodgings in Lavender Hill turned up a fully loaded Smith & Wesson.
    Browne was known to have employed Kennedy, a notorious alcoholic, though had sacked him on December 17, 1927, as his drinking problem was affecting his work. Kennedy was an unusual mix, having been born in Scotland to Irish parents—he had an Irish accent but considered himself Scottish. He had been dishonorably discharged from the army for desertion and had convictions for housebreaking, indecency, drunkenness, and theft.
    When they parted on December 17, Kennedy took a train to Liverpool. Three weeks later he returned to London in order to get married. Having been away in Liverpool, he had not heard about Browne’s arrest. As a result he visited Browne’s garage in the early afternoon of Saturday, January 21. He found it locked. When he looked through the crack between the doors, he noticed two men in