Plaque

SYDNEY, Monday. — At the Pine Grove Memorial Park near Rooty Hill today, Bishop Hulme-Moir, chaplain of the NSW Police Force, dedicated a plaque in memory of Sergeant Maurice McDiarmid and Sergeant William Riley, who were shot when attempting to arrest an armed man at Toongabbie on September 30 last year.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102204297

Payments to 3 police widows

SYDNEY, Wednesday. – The NSW Government agreed today to make, as “an act of grace”, lump-sum payments of $12,500 to each of three police officers’ widows.

“The Premier, Sir Robert Askin, said the payments would be in addition to the pensions and dependant’s allowances already paid out of the police superannuation and reward fund.

The three policemen involved in the payments are Senior Constable W. E. King, who was murdered at East Gresford police station on August 13 last year, and Sergeants W. Riley and M. McDiarmid, who were shot by a man at Toongabbie on September 30 last year.

Sir Robert said members of the police force had always been specifically excluded from the definition of “worker” under the Workers Compensation Act.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Allan, had brought to the notice of the Government that, in certain matters of workers’ compensation, police were in an anomalous position in relation to other Crown employees.

Sir Robert said a full examination would be made of overall benefits of workers’ compensation available to police.

Two policemen commended by coroner

SYDNEY, Friday. — A Sydney coroner has commended two policemen who chased and stopped “an armed and desperate man“.

The man, Mr Ronald Desmond Clarke, had earlier shot and killed two other policemen after having killed his own brother in Toongabbie on September 30.

The coroner, Mr J. Parnell, SM, found on Wednesday that Mr Clarke in turn died in a car of cerebral lacerations and gun shot wounds to the brain inflicted by a person defending himself.

Constable A. C. Gregory, giving evidence at the inquest into the deaths of the four men, said that he and Constable L. ( Les ) A. Crawford in a police truck had rammed Mr Clarke‘s car, causing him to lose control.

Constable Gregory had seen Mr Clarke transfer a gun from his left hand to his right. The gun had been pointing at the policeman’s face and the constable had fired “one shot towards his shoulder“.

“The impact of this bullet appeared to throw him towards the passenger side of his car, but he still had the revolver, which he now held in both hands, levelled at my face“, Constable Gregory said.

“He appeared to be endeavouring to discharge the gun and it was then that I fired two quick shots at him“.

The four men who were killed were Sergeant First Class William Watson Riley, 50, and Sergeant Maurice Raymond McDiarmid, 39, of Blacktown, and Ronald Desmond Clarke, 20, and Warren John Clarke, 22, both of Toongabbie.

( Both policemen were promoted posthumously. Sergeant Riley was raised from second-class to first class, and Sergeant McDiarmid from senior constable to sergeant third class. )

Mr Parnell found that Mr Warren John Clarke died from gunshot wounds inflicted by his brother, Mr Ronald Desmond Clarke.

He found also that Sergeant Riley died from a fractured skull and lacerations to the brain, and Sergeant McDiarmid died in an ambulance between Toongabbie and Blacktown Hospital.

Both died as a result of bullet wounds inflicted by Clarke.

He said Mr Ronald Clarke, a professional criminal, had shot his brother, Warren Clarke, after having raped his brother’s de facto wife.

Shooting in Sydney Brothers, two police die

SYDNEY, Thursday. – Two policemen and two other men were shot dead in the outer western Sydney suburb of Toongabbie today.

The policemen were shot while investigating a report of rape and murder.

Earlier, Mr Warren Clark about 22, died in his bed. Police said his elder brother, Ronald. 23, had shot him through the head with a .22 calibre repeater rifle.

A young woman, living in the house in Mimosa Ave, Toongabbie. with Mr Warren Clark, told police that Mr Ronald Clark had awakened her and then shot his brother.

The woman alleged that Mr Ronald Clark then raped her and forced her to accompany him in his car.

After driving her around for several hours, he had released her at Black town.

The woman went to Blacktown police station.

She was in a hysterical condition.

Sergeant Second-Class William Riley, 50. and Senior-Constable Morrie McDiarmid, 39. left the station immediately to go to the house.

While they were on their way the police radio directed other police to the house.

The next-door neighbour, in Mimosa Ave, Toongabbie. Mrs Ethel Roberts, 54. said she first knew something was wrong when a police officer ran down a driveway at the side of her house.

He began kicking on the door of the house next door.

“He eventually forced the door and went inside”, she said.

“All was quiet for perhaps two minutes, then three shots rang out.

“I ran to the front porch as a young blond man ran from the house with a rifle in his hand, entered a car and screeched off down the road”‘. Mrs Roberts said.

“After he drove off, I saw a policeman’s blood stained hand grasping the back steps of the house”.

Stem flow of blood

“I ran to the road where a woman was delivering bread and told her to call an ambulance”.

Another neighbour, Mrs Dawn Harris, was called by Mrs Roberts, who was trying to stem the flow of blood from Constable McDiarmid.

“When I reached the house a policeman was propped against the back steps”, Mrs Harris said.

“His mouth and part of his face were torn and shredded from the shotgun blast.

“Another policeman was lying dead on the ground.

“In a bedroom in the house another man covered with a sheet was also dead and blood could be seen everywhere”.

Police said later they believe Sergeant Riley died immediately when he was shot at point-blank range with a shotgun.

Constable McDiarmid was taken by ambulance to Blacktown Hospital. He died shortly after arrival.

Meanwhile an all-points bulletin was broadcast over the VKG police network for all cars to be on the lookout for a bright blue 1950 sedan.

The broadcast warned, ‘This man is dangerous. He has a .22 rifle, a shotgun and two police pistols”.

“We have sighted him”, one car replied. “He is going toward Hillview”.

“We have stopped the car”, was the officer’s next report.

Constable Alfred Gregory and Constable Les Crawford said later they had rammed the suspect’s car with their police van.

The sedan got out of control and crashed into a bowser at a service station.

Constable Gregory jumped out of the van. As he approached the car he saw Mr Clark take one of the police pistols from the seat and transfer it to his right hand.

Three shots from pistol

Constable Gregory fired three shots from his pistol.

One of his shots struck Mr Clark in the side of the head, killing him.

In the car, police found several Commonwealth Bank cash bags, a blood stained nightgown and two suitcases containing mostly women’s clothing.

Two police revolvers, a .22 repeater rifle and a sawn-off shotgun were also recovered.

Tonight forensic and ballistic experts were still examining them.

The policemen killed are each survived by a widow and two children.

Sergeant Riley joined the force in 1945 and Constable McDiarmid in 1956.

A CIB spokesman said this afternoon the families were eligible for a special allowance paid to police killed while on duty.

He said that the lack of witnesses, particularly when the two policemen were shot, was hampering investigations.