Police still doing a good job

JULIAN SIEBER and PATRICK WILLIAMS

 

Ninety-year-old Layne Humbert was pardoned yesterday from the Sir. Freeman Prison after completing only half of his sentence in light of evidence proving he was wrongfully accused 70 years ago.

 

The Mount Lawley man was convicted in 1939 for a crime he obviously didn’t commit and was sentenced to 140 years in prison by judge Henry Shillingworth.

 

Mr Humbert has been advised by counsel to sue the crown for compensatory damages totaling just over 6 pence and is waiting on permission from King George VI to take his case all the way to the Privy Council.

 

“I’m fairly confident I can take my case all the way assuming that I can safely traverse the Atlantic, what with Hitler’s wolf pack U-Boats still at large and all.”

 

A new DNA initiative lead by WA Police Constable Gavin Murray revealed that the infamous footwear supposedly removed on a 1939 Perth beach that caused indecent exposure never belonged to Mr Humbert.

 

“It is not every day that we can use this new technology to release an innocent man”, said Constable Murray. “I think we have done something extraordinary here and Mr Humbert is a very lucky man.

 

“There are some obvious discrepancies in this case because the official documents say he indecently removed his thong, and as we all know there are different meanings for this word.

 

“It is very hard to tell what really happened 70 years ago, but I think we made the right decision here.”

 

Mr Humbet is looking forward to returning to England where he will be whipped, shot and hanged three times a day for seven weeks.