William Slade Vincent

15.3
Back to Fremantle Prison September 1931

For two months William had “kept his nose clean” but the following newspaper clipping was placed in his file with the Repat. Dept. He had transgressed again and was sentenced to another “3 month stretch” on each of the two charges, to be served concurrently, but with no hard labour this time.

Newspaper clipping on William’s file.
William has been cashing cheques without funds [133]

The Repat. Dept. conducted a review on William and the review noted he was committed to Fremantle Prison on 17th September 1931. William, the newspaper report said, “handed a lengthy statement to the Bench in which he outlined that he was a British airman and had sustained severe head injuries in a crash some years ago.”

William was obviously trying to influence the Bench with his story of the crash, to get a lesser sentence. [There is no record of the crash and the injuries on his service record, and he was not an airman but was attached to the air force.]

His retired pay was suspended again whilst in prison.

On 5th October 1931, William wrote to the Repat. Dept. from Fremantle Prison and complained about the Dept’s handling of a debt that a Mrs. Sterro claimed was incurred by William. However, in the second half of the letter he calmed down and praised the Dept. for being so helpful to him. [No record of the original debt was found.]

The Repat. Dept. on 9th October 1931, in Perth, advised its head office in Melbourne that William had been convicted again of a crime and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in Fremantle Prison. Melbourne duly advised the War Office in London and the War Office requested information relating to the charge and information from the police. The gathering of this information took some time and was the subject of considerable correspondence between all the agencies involved.

At this time, Fremantle Prison sent to the Repat. Dept. a copy of the guidelines for writing to a prisoner. William, together with the Repat. Dept have broken the rules and the guidelines set by the prison.

William was released from prison on 24th November 1931 and wrote a letter, that morning, asking the Repat. Dept. to send his monthly cheque to c/o R.S.L. [Returned and Services League [134] ], Fremantle.

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[133] Australian National Archives – British Pension Record BP4532 William Slade Vincent
[134] The Returned and Services League of Australia is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force