Recent Book: A Very Profitable Venture: The Investigation of Fraud
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300121 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
forgetful public, are those portraying the
alleged innocence of the offender. These
are reasonably easy to research and
write. but no test for the professional
classical crime researcher.
Bernard
Taylor
certainly
set
himself a formidable task and readers of
his fascinating story will marvel at his
persistence in attempting to unravel the
events that took place on the night of
28th June, 1860 at Road Hill House. in
the village of Road, Wiltshire, when
Master Francis Savill Kent, aged 3 years
10months, was plucked from his cot and
later found in an outside privy with his
head almost severed from his body.
Was it an early 'battered baby' - sorry
-
'Non
accidental injury to a
child"?
(must not upset a well known modern
agency). Was it the child's nurse.
Elizabeth Gough? Or could it have been
his 16 year old step-sister, Constance
Savill? If gossip in the villagewas a guide.
then the child's father. Samuel Savill
Kent, was not a rank outsider. In latter
day parlance, he would be described as a
high grade civil servant - a pompous,
pragmatic, promiscuous Inspector of
Factories, who moved house at frequent
intervals following local gossip as a result
of his frequent affairs with members of
his household staff.
Theauthorvividlydescribesthe life and
times of a Victorian family, the
environment in which they lived. and
above all the thin facade of so called
respectability of the period.
We are then treated to a vivid
portrayal of a local style police
investigation and ultimately. the arrival
of the man from the'Yard' in the shape of
Detective Sergeant Whicher.
The convicted killer is, in fact, made
known from the beginning. but what was
the motive? The author with a
combination of brilliant biographical
detail, historical background and
detailed investigation. gives us his
solution at Chapter 33. I do not propose
to reveal either the offender or Bernard
Taylor's logical theory of what took
place. except to say that after serving 20
years in numerous prisons. making
amongst other things, mosaics. for
various places of worship, including St.
Paul's Cathedral. the felon lived to a ripe
old age of 100years 2 months, the death
being recorded in Strathfield, Australia
on 10th April. 1944.
For the connoisseur of either historical
fact or murder most foul, this is a beg.
borrow or buy book. X.D.
A VERY
PROFITABLE
VENTURE
G.
D.
CAMPBELL:
The Investigation
of
Fraud (Second Edition).
Barry Rose (Publishers) Limited £3.90
A handy little publication for the with the writing of an investigation
student fraud investigator with brief report, witnessesand Court. Students of
chapters on the basics of business and the Home Office Fraud Investigation
accountancy,
bankruptcy
and
Course at Hendon are now issued with
liquidation and general fraud legislation. this work which is written by an ex Fraud
The gems of the book for students ISquad Officer who is a practising
found are the chapters on the practical barrister.
J.M.
aspects of fraud investigation dealing
LAW IN
CONTEXT
MICHAEL
CHESTERMAN:
Charities. Trusts and Social Welfare.
Weidenfeld &Nicolson. Hardback £17.50. Paperback £10.00
GEOFFREY
ROBERTSON: Obscenitv.
Weidenfeld &Nicolson. Hardback £16.00. Paperback £8.50
It
must seem to the average student Every police officer knows the
that the world isfull of law books. most of complexity of the second. Some of them
them written with the object ofobscuring will not like what this clever young
the;
law rather than clarifying it! barrister has to say about some aspects of
This was the reason why it is such a it or their enforcement of it. I do.
pleasure to welcome this new series. But nobody can read either book
which it is rightly claimed is "a new
without
emerging
with
a
better
departure in scholarly legal writing". knowledge of the lawin the context
ofthe
The first subject is not one that very society, in which it has emerged and in
often falls to the lot of police officers to which it is constantly developing.
examine in any detail but as someone A most welcome series.
who has, I can testify to its complexity. AEDILIS
January 1980 Police Journal 91
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