NEWS: Previously unreported attempt on Jeannette Crewe's life

EXCLUSIVE

KILLER TRIED TO MURDER CREWES TWICE
SUB: Jeannette’s Brakes Cut In 1969

By Ian Wishart
TGIF Edition

 

The killer of Pukekawa farmers Harvey and Jeannette Crewe tried to murder the couple twice, and only succeeded on the second occasion.

In a dramatic new twist to the 40 year old cold case tonight, two witnesses have come forward to reveal the brake lines on Jeannette’s car were cut “clean through” in early 1969, soon after the first fire at the house that had been ignited using baby Rochelle’s clothes.

It’s the first time this first attempt on the lives of the couple and baby Rochelle – believed to have been a passenger in the car - has ever been made public, and it comes from an elderly Auckland couple.

 “My wife was in the [maternity] annex with Jeannette Crewe,”  the new witness told TGIF Edition today, “they were in adjoining beds and became good friends.

“Somebody cut the brake lines on Jeannette’s car” he told us, “It was cut clean through, and had to have been done by a professional person.”

“Jeannette complained that the brake line was cut and she’d had to stop the car.”

“She was driving out the drive and the car wouldn’t stop,” remembers his wife. “It wasn’t long after we got home from the annex. She told me she hadn’t been able to get out of the house because the car had to be repaired and it took a couple of weeks. She was definitely quite shaken, I can tell you that.”

The Crewe house driveway opened out onto State Highway 22. Brake failure could have been lethal.

“ The fires and that together, to me they had to have been done by the same people. I’m not sure whether she reported it to police or not,” adds the husband.

In the books, newspaper clippings and police documents released in the Crewe murder inquiry, there appears to be no reference to Jeannette’s brake failure. In fact, there’s no evidence Jeannette reported the brake sabotage to police either, and that in itself raises enormous questions. Was there a reason for her not to involve police?

The couple’s problems appear to have begun with a burglary in 1967, which was attended by police officer Len Johnston – named in the new book “The Inside Story” as being responsible for a 1963 fire at the Otahuhu Police Station that he lit in a bid to incriminate a police colleague.

There’s some evidence the 1967 burglary was an insurance fraud perpetrated by Harvey Crewe in a bid to raise cash to run the farm, and Johnston’s testimony in court indicates he did not believe the burglary was genuine.

The new book alleges Johnston tried to blackmail the wealthy and attractive Jeannette Crewe over the burglary fraud, and that the detective may have been responsible for two subsequent  arson attacks – the first in December 1968 while Jeannette was still in the maternity annex, and the second six months later on June 17, 1969, exactly a year to the day before the couple were eventually murdered.

Until tonight, it has never been publicly revealed that the brakes on Jeannette’s car were cut, forcing her to make an emergency stop. This new revelation of an earlier attempt to kill Jeannette is further proof that Pat Booth’s ‘murder-suicide’ theory doesn’t stack up against the evidence.

Equally significantly, the brake sabotage happened months before Jeannette’s mother later changed her will, meaning the killer cannot have been driven by the will but by something else.

TGIF Edition is not making the names of new witnesses in the Crewe murders investigation public, in the expectation that their fresh testimony will be needed for an eventual full Commission of Inquiry.

The couple who’ve come forward should have been the last people to see the Crewes alive – they met up with Jeannette, Harvey and Rochelle at the stock sale the afternoon of the day they died, and Jeannette invited her friends to dinner – “Come and have fish and chips with us”. The witnesses now believe they dodged a bullet.

“We couldn’t do it,” remarks the wife, “and in hindsight we are kind of glad we didn’t. Who knows what might have happened if we had also been there that night.”

Comments

[Peter]

Interesting item, but how does this take the case forward?

Also, how can this be asserted:
' This new revelation of an earlier attempt to kill Jeannette is further proof that Pat Booth’s ‘murder-suicide’ theory doesn’t stack up against the evidence. '

I don't see how this affects the improbability of the Booth theory one way or the other!

[truthseeker]

Questions Ian - they said that "she said". From your article I infer she was driving the car near her home when the failure was noticed. It took two weeks to get the car repaired. Was it repaired locally, did it need to be repaired in Pukekohe, did the Crewes have a second car to use when it was out of commission, was there an insurance claim, do you know where it was repaired, did the witnesses see the vehicle and cut brake lines? Who identified that they were cut - did Jeanette have mechanical knowledge to identify it herself or did Harvey or someone else identify they were cut? It is probably likely the failure was identified by someone else who told Jeanette and if it wasn't Harvey there may be another witnesses out there - do you know who that was? Where were the brake lines cut - definately a cut and mechanical failure can be ruled out? - do we know? Is there any corroboration to support what the persons have said? Do we know what date this happened closer than months.

Is there any evidence linking the police to the alleged act? Do the witnesses know who cut them, did Jeanette say who cut them, do we know the time frames of when the car was last used prior to the brakes failing to establish who may have had opportunity to do so without discovery?

In my opinion a lot of questions need to be answered to corroborate this.

I'm talking evidence here - not debunking the claim.

Bit premature in my view to knock Booths theory. What were Yallops conclusions. I've got the book but can't recall

[RetroFoam Toledo]

I don't see how this impacts the improbability of the Unit concept one way or the other!