RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => New Zealand => New Zealand Completed Requests => Topic started by: garydevine on Sunday 14 April 13 04:22 BST (UK)
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HI,
when i thought my family history was beginning be be boring i discovered we had a murderer in the family haha
Leo Silvester Hannan. I don't know much about his life. He was born and died in Wellington, New Zealand 1900-1962. I typed his name into google hoping someone was looking for info on him too and with such a rare name i thought maybe i might of got something, which i did, but not from a relative. A website on Annie Smyth, a woman that worked for the Salvation Army, her and her sister and in the 1940s were murdered but the case was never solved. in 1950 Leo murdered a a guard in Wellington railway station and was sentence to life in prison in 1950 and when he was dying with cancer in 1962 he confessed to his lawyer he had murdered Annie and her sister in 1942 I'm sure it was and another man with the name Herbert Brunton. Annie and her sister were killed by an axe and a poker and the man was killed by an axe, here is the article:
On or about 8 August 1942 Annie and Rosamond were murdered in their home at the Salvation Army hall. It was 13 days before the deaths were reported to the police. A lengthy and exhaustive enquiry followed, involving a large team of police led by Chief Detective J. Bruce Young of Wellington (later commissioner of police). Salvation Army Commissioner Smith officiated at the joint funeral for the two sisters held at the citadel in Wellington on 26 August; they were buried at the Karori cemetery. It was established that the murder weapons were an axe and a poker, and police enquiries included the offer of a £500 reward. Despite this, the murders remained unsolved and on 19 January 1943 the coroner delivered an open verdict of ‘murder by some person or persons unknown’.
Some years later, on 30 October 1950, Leo Silvester Hannan, described as a bushman and a bootmaker, was convicted at the Wellington Supreme Court of murdering a railway guard in Wellington with a heavy spanner the previous August. Hannan had lived an itinerant life in various parts of the lower North Island between Wellington and Taumarunui, but had spent much of the 1940s in prison. He was represented at his trial by George Joseph and was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1962, knowing he had terminal cancer, Hannan asked to see Joseph and told him he had killed the Smyth sisters, and also an old man named Herbert Brunton at Wairoa in December 1948; Brunton had also been killed with an axe. Bruce Young had investigated Brunton’s murder, which had remained unsolved. Hannan’s criminal record establishes that at the times of both the Smyth and Brunton murders he was out of prison. He died still serving his sentence in October 1962.
I was wondering if anyone could find any more information on the case of Leo murdering the guard and anything else on the Smyth sisters and Mr Burton and if he had any previous convictions with anything in the 20s, 30s and 40s as it says he spent most of the 40s in prison.
I managed to find a picture of Leo walking behind the police behind the court in 1950
Thanks
Gary
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Hi Gary,
Just wondering how much info you have on his parents and siblings, your Leo has a lot of siblings and his parents are Annie and Edmond.......am I on the right track?
Gail.
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Hi Gail,
Yes that's correct :) his mother is Annie Bonnar from Donegal Ireland, I have pictures of her and Edmund in the 1880s and some other ones of Annie. Yes he had a lot of siblings I believe but I cant find any information on any of them, I think there's maybe 8 of them or maybe even more.
Gary
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Have you looked in the Police Gazettes at the time of releases from prison for Leo's convictions and the retrospective term served?
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Here are a few newspaper articles http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thu/
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PS That's a pretty cool photo, if you don't mind me saying.
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Article on the sister's murder http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thv/
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Herbert William Brunton died 16 December 1948
1949/29834 Brunton Herbert William 69
His nickname was Bunny.
There are 3 articles at the National Library http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thw/
Added: There is a note that a book was to be published to include the murders.
Added: The death date in one of those articles is 17th not 16th.
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Oh I see you have probably been to the National Library indexing site, as they have the same photo.
Anyway here are a few more, for Leo Hannan, just in case http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thx/
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Biography for Annie http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thy/
Hawkes Bay Today article from just a few days ago mentions the murders in passing http://www.rootschat.com/links/0thz/
There are a couple of books, by the looks of it:
Crimes that Shook NZ: New Zealand's Unsolved Murders Case Histories of 17 of New Zealand’s Most Horrifying Murders by the Herald
and
Unsolved Murders in NZ : By Persons or Persons Unknown
George Joseph HC
Published 1982
Several other references appear on the Auckland Library as well.
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Here are his siblings
1881/4897 Hannan Edmond/ Annie /Edmond
1884/7390 Hannan James Patrick/ Annie /Edmond
1886/2098 Hannan John Joseph / Annie /Edmond
1890/990 Hannan William / Annie /Edmond
1892/2084 Hannan Mary Eliza / Annie/ Edmond
1893/16420 Hannan Francis Robert/ Annie/ Edmond
1895/3279 Hannan Catherine May /Annie/ Edmond
1897/5877 Hannan Cecilia Josephine /Annie /Edmond
1899/12482 Hannan Thomas Vincent/ Annie/ Edmond
1900/16676 Hannan Leo Sylvester / Annie /Edmond
1887/9670 Hannan Margaret Ellen / Annie/ Edmund
1889/8675 Hannan Charles William / Annie /Edmund
Cheers Janette
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Hello...
I am almost 100% sure that this is an episode of Epitaph (http://www.greenstonetv.com/programmes/history-series/epitaph/).
Have no idea where you'd get a copy but would love to know if my memory is right or if I've confused it with something else.
Regards
Beg
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You're so right Beg.
It's in series 2. NZ Film archive has a copy of the Smythe murders.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0ti4/
[I have an old vhs tape around here somewhere but not sure which episodes are on it. Will try and find it ;)]
Added: The Film Archive is in Wellington. It is a treasure trove of NZ films and programmes. It is FREE to go in there and view anything they have in their catalogue. Incidentally we did just this and watched an episode of Epitaph!
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Wow looads of info to go one thank you so much Twiggy!!!
Yes the picture is pretty cool haha I was surprised to have found it online. So hes an Axe murderer, escape convict, burgglar and a possible alcoholic considering he likes to steal booze.
On one news article it says 'a woman' balied Leo out and said he was a 'good boy' im wodering if this could be his mother. Im so interested to find out about him, never come across this before :D :D :D all my dads side of family are just plain old coal miners from scotland then ireland and now we have an axe murder, amongst other things hahaha
Turns out he was quite the escape artist too, managed to find this:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19550215&id=VXhWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IOUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1328,2986625
turns out he escaped prison in 1955 after being given life imprisonment for murdering the guy at the train station, he must of been found afterwards cause in the biography of Annie Smyth it says Leo died in prision of cancer in October 1962 and i know the date exact October 9th 1962
Thanks Janette for all his siblings, theres more than i thought! i dont have some of them so thank you :)
So would i be able to watch that episode online?
Gary
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In one article it said Leo had also been in court in 1922 and 1918
Gary
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Gary, do you still want further information? I have a chapter from a Salvation Army Women's book about the Smythe sisters; and was able to locate the Epitaph episode. PM me your details if so.
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Hi Gary,
In a round about way I have been sent the article on Leo Silvester Hannan. While he is not related to me in any way I thought you might be interested to know that Herbert Brunton who was murdered by Leo at Wairoa was the Grandfather of my cousins wife. I have discovered all this as I am researching the family of James Muir born unknown possibly in Ireland sometime before 1800 and so the Brunton information is of interest to me as my cousins wife was Brunton before she married my cousin who is a Muir.
Not much useful information but a handy tit bit to add to your story. If you need to contact me at any time about the murder or the family feel free to do so.
Gary Muir
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Leo is my great great great uncle it is very good reading too find more about my family
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Hi Matthew!
Great to hear from you!
Would you like to contact me and we could talk, im assuming you possibly might no a Hannan relative im in contact with thats Leos great niece from NZ now in AUS
Gary
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An article in our national newspaper today about the murders
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036576
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wow thats fantastic info!! will pass it on to my family still over there, one of his nieces remembers him very well and is still alive and remembers the 60s and people asking her loads of questions and some info still remained a mystery to her so will send the link.
Thank you so much