SUNDAY TIMES
Cutting dated
15 JUL 1973)
19
There was, however, no evidence that the money had come from bribes. Under the anti-bribery Jaw. Godber could not be arrested until the seven days was up. Attorney General Hobley says that he had never felt 50 frustrated in his life.
During the next five days, the staff of the anti-corruption office waded through the confiscated documents. They showed that Godber had seven bank accounts. two in Hong Kong and the reminder in Canada, America, Australia, Singapore and Britain. He had £19,906 in his account at Barclays Bank, Rye, Sussex and, in addition, owned a house there which is probably worth £25,000. His total cash fortune was £350,179. More than half the money had apparently been obtained since July 1972.
The detectives said that they found no evidence that the money had been acquired through
"luck or inheritance."
The Attorney General's frustra- tion as being unable to authorise an arrest was matched by Godber's indignation at what he considered the invasion of his privacy. Two days after his flat had been searched, Godber and his wife, Jean, called at the home of another British-born police.
M
man.
Superintendent David' Lloyd. Godber told him that his wife was going to leave long Kong because it was "unfair to put her through the degradation of any trial, and expose her to the contempt of neighbours." Hle asked Superintendent Lloyd's wife, Lindy, to help.
Because of his basty departure, Godber was forced to leave behind him most of his posses- sious-and an embarrassing head- ache for his friend, Supt Lloyd.
When he arrived in England, Godber instructed his Hong Kong solicitors to submit his immed" ate resignation from the polic force. lle also paid back one month's salary-£576-in lieu of notice,
Lloyd asking him to take on what He then wrote to Supt Godber called the "highly un- pleasant duty" of clearing up his affairs, including shipment of his effects to England---"by a non conference
it's ship,
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The next afternoon, the two women went by taxi to Kai Tak international airport. They kissed each other goodbye and Mrs Godber caught a plane back to England. When she arrived at Rye, she wrote a letter to her friend saying: "I'll never be able cheaper and to sell his Tum- to thank you for what you did―ber Snipe car which he had left and are still doing-for us." at the airport car park. The From that letter it is clear registration number of the car that she expected her husband is 1066, an evocative reminder to be arrested. In fact, the morn-that Godber spent the first four ing after she left Hong Kong, years of his police career as a Godber arranged his own depar- constable, pounding a beat in ture from the Colony. He bought Hastings, Sussex.
૩ first-class return ticket to Singapore from the Westminster Travel Agency and two hours later took off on board Singa- pore Airlines flight SQ631.
By the time the police dis- covered, the next day, that Godber had left, he was with his wife in Rye.
WHEN Godber first came under suspicion, Deputy Police Com- 'missioner Christopher Dawson, who was responsible for keeping an eye on him, decided not to have him constantly watched. As Godber had once been an instruc- tor in surveillance techniques it was feared that he would "blow the tail" and complain about harassment. "We were anxious to do nothing that might pre- judice the case," said Mr Dawson.
Godber was not even asked to surrender his passport. But the police did suspect that he might try to leave Hong Kong during his seven-day reprieve and his name had been placed on the
Stop List." Immigration officers. at the airport and docks were told to watch out for him and, if he tried to leave, to detain him.
"
But the at thorities seemed to have forgotten that Godber possessed a key to the fastest escape route in the Colony, Kai Tak Airport is in the Lowloon district and when he was second- in-command of the area he was issued with a red" permit which gave him the unrestricted right of access to any part of the air- port.
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