The Murder of PC Potter

By Mark Rothwell and Andrea Tester

Police Constable John Tremlett Potter No 160 of Devon Constabulary died on 2^nd February 1938 from injuries sustained when he disturbed two men committing a burglary on 17^th January 1938.

Constable Potter was 46 years old and married with one son, he had joined Devon Constabulary in 1913, leaving in 1915 to serve his country in the Great War, and returned to Devon Constabulary in 1919.

Constable Potter (Fig 1) took his work seriously and took care of his ‘patch’, it was not unusual at the time for a police officer to work well beyond their duty hours.

Whiteway’s Thefts

PC Potter had been paying close attention to Whiteway’s Cider Company in Whimple, near Exeter for some months. Ronald Whiteway, the Managing Director, had long suspected petty thieving had been going on at the factory and regularly kept PC Potter informed. At 8pm on 17th January 1938, Potter bid goodbye to his wife and said he would carry out a patrol near Knowle Cross and return for supper at 9.30pm. Unfortunately, Constable Potter left home that evening without taking his truncheon with him.

The Search

When Constable Potter failed to return by 3am the next morning, his wife telephoned Police Sergeant Abrahams at Ottery St Mary.  Knowing of his father’s recent interest in criminality at the factory, William (also employed at the factory) went to the premises but found nothing amiss and returned home to await the arrival of Sergeant Abrahams.  A search of the area was conducted by Abrahams along with PC Lamb and William Potter. They drove PC Potter’s route to the village of Talaton concerned that he may have been knocked down by a vehicle but found nothing.  On the return journey to Whimple, the searchers looked through the hedgerows but found nothing.  Back at Whiteways factory, they found that all buildings and offices were securely locked and still no sign of PC Potter.

Mr Whiteway’s Discovery

At around 7am on 18^th January, Mr. Whiteway arrived at the factory to find a policeman’s helmet on the factory floor. Moments later he found PC Potter lying in a pool of blood in a wrecked office, with severe head injuries, but still alive. The injured Constable Potter was rushed to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.

Suspicion immediately fell upon two employees, Leslie Downing and Stanley Martin. Mr Martin arrived at work that morning with unexplained facial injuries and detectives found Mr Downing’s fingerprints in the office. A Folmer Graflex camera (Fig 2) was used in gathering evidence in situ, as fingerprints were not lifted by tape at the time. The front metal plate was opened and the item with the fingerprints placed against it. An exposure was made onto a 1:1 glass plate.