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But, in my view, this is most unlikely. The departure cards were collected, serted and counted fairly quickly after the aircraft loft. Therefore such an officer would have little time to destroy the card. Also, this was a busy time of the
day.
The officer would be far too preoccupied to re-check the
cards.
Thore is one other possibility which cannot be discounted. Through both the departure and arrival Immigration control points, there is a channel through which aircrews and airport officials pass. These are manned by Immigration officers. But they do not stop everyone to inspect their passes. Therefore, although Godber's name was added to their Watch Lists 4 days prior to his departure, the officers would not necessarily have connected Godber with the entry on their lists. If they had seen a person wearing a "red" permit, such a person would not have been stopped.
In the time available to me (3 weeks), it has not been possible for me to call as witnesses the scores of Immigration and police personnel on duty at Kai Tak at the relevant time. I am, however, greatly indebted to Superintendent Webb who assures me that he has closely questioned all Immigration officials and police constables on gate duty; and no one admits seeing
Godbor on 8th June.
But, apart from that, naturally one asks oneself: why choose a difficult or risky way of crossing the land/air barrier when one has the option of an infinitely casier way of doing it, that is to say by walking past the constable on duty at the west gate wearing one's "red" permit?
What probably happened was this: Godber checked in at approximately 1.45 p.m. possibly a little later. The chances are that he did so personally and did not ask anyone to check in for him. He was, by nature, what is sometimes called a "loner". He was an able and efficient police officer. He would know that the fewer people who know about one's affairs, the less chance there is of anyone "splitting". He would run a slight risk of being recognised when standing in the queue at the check-in counter. In the process of checking in, he would have been given his boarding pass. He could then have walked down the stair on the west side of the building past the V.I.P. Room. By this time,