22 The Mysterious Case of the <strong>Chase</strong>water Drown<strong>in</strong>g By Jono Oates ............................ In February 1974, Wolverhampton bus<strong>in</strong>essman Ronald Milhench emerged from the waters of <strong>Chase</strong>water, near Brownhills, hav<strong>in</strong>g swum to the bank after his car had crashed <strong>in</strong>to the lake. There was, however, no sign of his wife who had been <strong>in</strong> the passenger seat of the car. His wife’s lifeless body was later recovered from the lake, start<strong>in</strong>g a series of events that <strong>in</strong>volved police <strong>in</strong>vestigations, court appearances <strong>and</strong> the forgery of one of Brita<strong>in</strong>’s Prime M<strong>in</strong>isters. For the follow<strong>in</strong>g 12 months, Ronald Milhench <strong>and</strong> <strong>Chase</strong>water were very much front-page news <strong>in</strong> the local <strong>and</strong> national press. On Wednesday 27th February 1974, Ronald Milhench, an <strong>in</strong>surance broker, had been water ski<strong>in</strong>g at <strong>Chase</strong>water with friends from the <strong>Chase</strong>water Power Boat Club. Later <strong>in</strong> the day he returned to the club with his wife, Kathleen, to look for some equipment he had left beh<strong>in</strong>d. Driv<strong>in</strong>g a hired car, Milhench allegedly lost control of the vehicle <strong>and</strong> it powered <strong>in</strong> to the lake submerg<strong>in</strong>g the occupants below the w<strong>in</strong>try icycold waters. Ronald managed to escape from the vehicle, was unable to locate his wife, <strong>and</strong> swam to the water’s edge before runn<strong>in</strong>g half a mile to raise the alarm. Rescuers could not locate her though <strong>and</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g morn<strong>in</strong>g when light came police divers eventually found her body under 25 foot of water. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>quest, which was held on 14th March, a number of surpris<strong>in</strong>g issues emerged which added <strong>in</strong>trigue, <strong>and</strong> the attention of the media, to the tragedy of the <strong>in</strong>cident. The hired Toyota car had caused problems previously <strong>and</strong> had been checked by the garage a few days before the <strong>in</strong>cident. Mrs Milhench had described the car as a ‘veritable death trap’ when it had surged uncontrollably across the road as she was revers<strong>in</strong>g out of their drive. It also emerged that she was plann<strong>in</strong>g a trial ‘marriage’ with her lover, although Ronald described their own relationship as amicable <strong>and</strong> he was aware that she may leave him to live with her lover on a trial basis. It was then disclosed that Milhench, a few weeks before the fatal drown<strong>in</strong>g, had doubled the <strong>in</strong>surance value on Kathleen’s life – from £20,000 to £40,000. Despite this potentially damn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>formation the result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>quest ruled, by a majority verdict, that Kathleen’s death had resulted from accidental drown<strong>in</strong>g although the coroner did express the concern that the car, even with a potential mechanical issue, had had enough velocity to surge over a bank at the side of the lake <strong>and</strong> then be carried a significant distance across the water. Milhench was therefore a free man <strong>and</strong> was able to claim the £40,000 life <strong>in</strong>surance pay out. However, this was not the end of Milhench’s story as <strong>in</strong> April 1974 he was arrested <strong>and</strong> charged with numerous forgery <strong>and</strong> firearms offences dat<strong>in</strong>g back to 1973. Milhench had become <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> a l<strong>and</strong> development case, regard<strong>in</strong>g the purchase of 90 acres of l<strong>and</strong> at Ince-<strong>in</strong>- Makerfield, near Wigan, to provide a hous<strong>in</strong>g estate which would, he estimated, net him a £1,500,000 profit over seven years. When the project looked as though it might fail, Ronald obta<strong>in</strong>ed some officiallyheaded notepaper <strong>and</strong> forged the signature of the then Prime M<strong>in</strong>ister, Harold Wilson. The letter <strong>in</strong>dicated that Wilson was giv<strong>in</strong>g his full back<strong>in</strong>g to the venture, which Milhench hoped would sway the outcome of the deal <strong>in</strong> his favour. He then, bizarrely, attempted to sell the forged letter to a newspaper journalist for £25,000 <strong>and</strong> his plot was subsequently uncovered. In November 1974 Ronald Milhench was sentenced to three years imprisonment at Stafford Crown Court for eight offences <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g forgery, deception <strong>and</strong> firearms, one of which was the ownership of a sten mach<strong>in</strong>e gun. News of his conviction made the national press as well as local newspapers, <strong>and</strong> the case was even featured <strong>in</strong> the New York Times. Milhench was released on parole <strong>in</strong> March 1976, hav<strong>in</strong>g served 16 months of his sentence, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1979 he headed off to Manila <strong>in</strong> the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es to set up a water sports centre. The Milhench case was a very unusual, <strong>and</strong> mysterious, one <strong>and</strong> the full truth beh<strong>in</strong>d the accidental drown<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> the court cases that followed will probably never be known – but for a short period <strong>in</strong> the middle of the 1970s the eyes of the country, <strong>and</strong> the national press, were firmly fixed on the usually peaceful <strong>and</strong> tranquil lakes of <strong>Chase</strong>water. Sources: The British Newspaper Archive; BBC Home On This Day website
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