Homicide – The Corrupter –1971 There are plenty of twists, turns and red herrings thrown at the viewer in this episode of HOMICDE.
Two petty crooks, Colin McEwen and Noel Brown, are out late at night. They are driving the Melbourne suburbs looking for cars to break into. While parked on a street, a Mercedes pulls up on the same street and parks. A man, Max Meldrum, gets out and heads for the nearest house. McEwen notices that Meldrum has left the keys in his car door.
The two quickly take advantage of the situation and steal the Mercedes. They drive their car and the stolen vehicle to a nearby park. They plan on a quick strip job and then to hit the road. Brown checks out the trunk of the car for anything of value while McEwen rifles through the inside.
Brown lets out a yell, runs to his car and takes off. McEwen now has a look in the trunk. He starts pulling out items. What does he find? A naked mans body wrapped in some bedsheets. McEwen dumps the body on the ground and drives off with the stolen Mercedes. He hides the vehicle in his garage.
The body is found the next day and Detectives, George Mallaby, Leonard Teale and Norman Yemm come for a look see. No id is found on the body. Besides the stiff, they find several items such as a Mercedes tire iron and a bracelet with KL loves DW at the scene. These are sent off for a fingerprint check.
McEwen by this time has completely searched the Mercedes. He has come up with the owners name and work address. He pays Meldrum a visit at his office. A spot of blackmail seems in order.
McEwen tells Meldrum that he is going to fork over $500 dollars a month or the Police will be told where to find Meldrum's car. Meldrum agrees.
The Police now get a call from landlady, Vivean Grey. Her tenant, Gary Gray, has vanished and his room is splattered everywhere with blood. Sure enough, the stiff in the morgue is Gray. His name is David Whittaker. That takes care of two initials on the bracelet. They start backtracking his movements.
The Detectives have also caught several more breaks. They got crook Brown's fingerprints off a wrench, and car owner Meldrum's name off the serial number on the tire iron.
Mallaby and Yemm pay a visit to Meldrum. He tells them he no longer owns the car. He cannot recall the name of whom he sold it to. The Police know he is full of it but do not have enough to pinch him.
Now Brown is grabbed off the street and brought in. He caves like a house of cards and tells all. The Police just as quickly grab up McEwen as well as Meldrum and the Mercedes.
McEwen and Brown are soon booked of the car theft, while Meldrum is given some further face to face time with Detectives Mallaby and Teale. Detective Yemm has been sent to talk with people in Gray's small home-town, which is 60 miles out of Melbourne.
After a couple of hours of vigorous third degree, Meldrum comes clean with his part in the mess. Meldrum and the dead man, Gray, had hooked up at a private gay club. Meldrum had dropped Gray at his apartment while he went out to grab a bottle. He swears that when he returned, he had found Gray beaten to death. He panicked, wrapped Gray in the bedding, dumped his body in the car and drove home. The car was then stolen while he was grabbing a shovel to bury Gray with.
While this has been going on, Detective Yemm has discovered that Gray had left his home town after a scandal with the local High School teacher, Bryon Williams. And what are Williams' initials? KL, of course.
Yemm tries to question Williams but he bolts and leads the Police on a wild chase before dead-ending at a quarry. Williams is brought to Melbourne for questioning.
Williams soon breaks down, and between sobs, admits it was he who killed Gray. He was upset that Gray had left him to move to the big city. Williams had gone to Melbourne to beg Gray to return to him. Gray had laughed at him and Williams had lost it. Williams is charged with murder. (b/w)
Two petty crooks, Colin McEwen and Noel Brown, are out late at night. They are driving the Melbourne suburbs looking for cars to break into. While parked on a street, a Mercedes pulls up on the same street and parks. A man, Max Meldrum, gets out and heads for the nearest house. McEwen notices that Meldrum has left the keys in his car door.
The two quickly take advantage of the situation and steal the Mercedes. They drive their car and the stolen vehicle to a nearby park. They plan on a quick strip job and then to hit the road. Brown checks out the trunk of the car for anything of value while McEwen rifles through the inside.
Brown lets out a yell, runs to his car and takes off. McEwen now has a look in the trunk. He starts pulling out items. What does he find? A naked mans body wrapped in some bedsheets. McEwen dumps the body on the ground and drives off with the stolen Mercedes. He hides the vehicle in his garage.
The body is found the next day and Detectives, George Mallaby, Leonard Teale and Norman Yemm come for a look see. No id is found on the body. Besides the stiff, they find several items such as a Mercedes tire iron and a bracelet with KL loves DW at the scene. These are sent off for a fingerprint check.
McEwen by this time has completely searched the Mercedes. He has come up with the owners name and work address. He pays Meldrum a visit at his office. A spot of blackmail seems in order.
McEwen tells Meldrum that he is going to fork over $500 dollars a month or the Police will be told where to find Meldrum's car. Meldrum agrees.
The Police now get a call from landlady, Vivean Grey. Her tenant, Gary Gray, has vanished and his room is splattered everywhere with blood. Sure enough, the stiff in the morgue is Gray. His name is David Whittaker. That takes care of two initials on the bracelet. They start backtracking his movements.
The Detectives have also caught several more breaks. They got crook Brown's fingerprints off a wrench, and car owner Meldrum's name off the serial number on the tire iron.
Mallaby and Yemm pay a visit to Meldrum. He tells them he no longer owns the car. He cannot recall the name of whom he sold it to. The Police know he is full of it but do not have enough to pinch him.
Now Brown is grabbed off the street and brought in. He caves like a house of cards and tells all. The Police just as quickly grab up McEwen as well as Meldrum and the Mercedes.
McEwen and Brown are soon booked of the car theft, while Meldrum is given some further face to face time with Detectives Mallaby and Teale. Detective Yemm has been sent to talk with people in Gray's small home-town, which is 60 miles out of Melbourne.
After a couple of hours of vigorous third degree, Meldrum comes clean with his part in the mess. Meldrum and the dead man, Gray, had hooked up at a private gay club. Meldrum had dropped Gray at his apartment while he went out to grab a bottle. He swears that when he returned, he had found Gray beaten to death. He panicked, wrapped Gray in the bedding, dumped his body in the car and drove home. The car was then stolen while he was grabbing a shovel to bury Gray with.
While this has been going on, Detective Yemm has discovered that Gray had left his home town after a scandal with the local High School teacher, Bryon Williams. And what are Williams' initials? KL, of course.
Yemm tries to question Williams but he bolts and leads the Police on a wild chase before dead-ending at a quarry. Williams is brought to Melbourne for questioning.
Williams soon breaks down, and between sobs, admits it was he who killed Gray. He was upset that Gray had left him to move to the big city. Williams had gone to Melbourne to beg Gray to return to him. Gray had laughed at him and Williams had lost it. Williams is charged with murder. (b/w)