Australia's Most Embarrassing Spy Secret by Neil Landers

Author:Neil Landers [Landers, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Books Unleashed
Published: 2014-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

More Court Surprises

On 18 July the Sydney newspaper strike was over and the press gallery was more crowded. But the story had been relegated to inside pages. In the Sydney Morning Herald, the vehicle for the strike editions, although it received a bigger coverage now that more space was available, it was back to page 6.

Les Engisch, founder of the Torch, told the court that on the night of the fire he was outside Sydney at The Entrance, a lakeside retirement area not far north of Sydney where he owned a home, but returned when told the news by a fishing inspector. (According to his daughter Lilian, his first action after reaching Bankstown was to distribute a catch of mud crabs to firemen who had been fighting the blaze.) Engisch said no-one had threatened him that they would burn down the premises. On the day after the fire Ray Fitzpatrick had offered to print the Torch at the Observer plant. At the time he was very upset and did not accept or reject the offer.

Goran: ‘Was his manner friendly?’

Engisch: ‘Well, I didn’t think so, not when he was accompanied by a solicitor.’

When the laughter stopped, Goran asked: ‘Did he sound friendly?’

‘He always does,’ Engisch said. Asked about inflammable materials on the premises, he said that from time to time the printing department bought kerosene, Shellite and engine oil. The Shellite was used for cleaning linotype matrices. After the fire he showed police a four-gallon Shellite tin lying on its side in the printing section with the screw cap missing and at least two gallons of Shellite still in the tin. The cap could not be found. He also showed them a tin of methylated spirit used for cleaning. The tin was full and still in its normal position but the cap had melted off.

Now 67, Les Engisch soon became tetchy. When cross-examined by Shand he began to clash with him. He also appeared to become confused. At some points the coroner warned him to give evidence properly. Shand asked him about a man named Allan Panton. ‘You took out a revolver and pointed it at him,’ he said.

Engisch: ‘Did I?’

Coroner: ‘Don't ask a question.’

Engisch: ‘Did I? I don’t know.’ He then said, in answer to Shand, that he knew very well a Bankstown garage owner named Renny Maxwell Campbell.(Max Campbell was one of my childhood neighbours – a garage behind his Rickard Road home, used by taxis, was only a few metres from our dining room window. Les Engisch was a motoring enthusiast all his life and for many years was a close friend of Campbell. Sometimes during the 1920s and 1930s they made pioneering trips together into the outback. They once even, when this was a real feat, went right around Australia. Despite the following question and answer, neither Campbell nor Panton were called to testify.)

Shand: ‘Will you deny that at his garage in front of him you took out a revolver and levelled it at Panton?’ (That was Campbell’s main garage a few blocks away in Chapel Road.

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