Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Wednesday 18 September 1935, page 28


Claim Against Detectives Fails

SYDNEY, September 17.

A verdict for the defendants was given before Mr^ Justice Street and a jury yesterday xn the case in which Arthur Shirley, a motion picture actor and producer, claimed £3,000 damages from Detective-Sergeant Dunnett and Constable W. P. Malone for alleged assault and wrongful arrest as a result of happenings on August 13, 1934. On that day the plaintiff arrived in Sydney in the Monterey and

was interviewed by the defendants. The defendants admitted that no charge was preferred at any time against tha plaintiff, and that there was no ground for arresting him They claimed that they did not arrest him, and that, in accompanying them to the police station from the liner, he acted voluntarily. Further evidence was given for the defendants by William Parker Prior, chief of the criminal investigation branch, who said that on August 13, 1934, at the Central Police Station, TlptpnHvp-KprorpaTit. rhinTipt± intrnrinwv*

the plaintiff to him as, 'Tils is Mr. Shirley, who has been deported from America.' The telephone rang and the witness said. 'Excuse me. I will see you later.' The plaintiff left the room with Dunnett. It was not usual for an arrested person to be introduced to him in this way. Shirley, recalled, denied that he was introduced to Superintendent Prior. In cross-examination by 2Ar. Hatiham, for the defendants, Shirley said that Pyramid Pictures was an enterprise started by him, and he made two' pictures for It, one of them being 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.' He had had appeared opposite most of the celebrated actresses. He declared that

got him his part in 'The Pour Horsemen of the Apocalypse.' Valentino recognised this before he died. The plaintiff and William S. Hart played leading roles together.