June edition - The Police Association Victoria

In THEIR HONOur
In Their Honour
Senior Constable Frederick Jones
Killed March 1943
It was a case of mistaken identity when
Senior Constable Frederick Jones was
gunned down by a man who had been on
a drunken binge − a tragedy that left a family
without a husband and father.
On March 1, 1943 Senior Constable Jones
was standing near the corner of Church
Street and Bridge Road in Richmond when
a man in a passing cab shot him with a rifle.
The shot passed through his heart. Frederick
Jones died almost immediately.
The man who fired that shot was Norman
Morris Searle, a man who had turned to
drinking and gambling after the death of his
parents in 1940. In 1941 Searle was arrested
by First Constable William Teitz for using
insulting words in Bridge Road, opposite
the Richmond Police Station. Back at the
watch house, Searle attempted to strike the
constable. He was fined £1. Teitz thought
the matter was over.
On March 1, 1943 Searle was drinking in the
Australia Hotel in Bridge Road. Around noon
Teitz, who was still stationed at Richmond,
went into the hotel with another member.
Teitz saw Searle and it is reported that they
stared at each other but did not speak.
At 7.30pm that night Searle hired a taxi
driver to take him to a house in Richmond
where he collected a .22 calibre rifle. He got
back into the cab and asked the driver to
take him along Church Street and then in to
Bridge Road. As they drove up Bridge Road
Searle asked the driver to do a U turn. It was
then Searle pointed the rifle out of the cab
window and fired the fatal shot at Jones
who was standing outside a chemist shop.
Searle then ordered the cabbie to drive him
to Burwood, threatening to shoot him too.
Searle was arrested later that night at the
Buckingham Street address. He admitted to
shooting the policeman in the belief he was
Constable Teitz. Searle claimed Teitz slapped
his face and called him a ‘vile name’ when he
arrested him back in 1941. He told police, ‘no
man can do that to me and get away with it’.
Norman Searle pleaded not guilty in the
Supreme Court in April to the murder of
Senior Constable Frederick Jones. He claimed
he was too drunk to form the intent to
murder and said he could barely remember
the evening and only meant to scare the
policeman, not kill him.
The jury deliberated for an hour and
40 minutes before finding Searle guilty
of murder, with a strong recommendation
for mercy.
Norman Searle was sentenced to death
which was commuted to life by the
Executive Council in May that year. He was
released on parole on July 6, 1959.
Frederick Jones was a First World War
veteran. He left the Royal Navy in 1918 and
spent 15 months with the Metropolitan
Police before migrating to Australia in 1921.
He served with the Victoria Police Force as
a Special Constable after the 1923 police
strike. He joined the Force in March 1924.
He had three children.
Since its inception, 30 members of the
Victoria Police Force have been murdered
on the job ... feloniously slain. Their lives and
deaths are commemorated on The Police
Association’s Honour Wall.
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