Red 22 has C.J. Sempill, Police, Rumuruti

KAD 1922 - Asst. Superintendent of Police, Rumuruti

Web - FORMER W. A. ROAD BOARD MAN GAOLED IN ENGLAND Secretary for 2 years of the Ashburton Road Bd. in Onslow, and later chief of police at Nairobi, Kenya, World War 1 Military Medal list Charles Sempill is serving a term of imprisonment in England after being convicted at the Old Bailey of tricking the sister-in-law of the High Commissioner for Ceylon. Described in the charge book as a wine broker of Kensington, Sempill (50), was said to have been educated at the University of WA, although records of his having attended there cannot be traced. He was found guilty of stealing 2 pawntickets, a pair of ear-rings and a nose stud, valued at £200, the property of Mrs. Pearl Christine Saravanamottu, of Hampstead. He was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment. A breath of the Orient in her flowing pale-green native dress and wearing a diamond stud in her left nostril, Mrs. Saravanamottu stepped into the witness box to tell of a meeting with Sempill in the West End and a conversation in which she mentioned she'd pawned some of her jewellery. Sempill, she claimed, told her he could find a pawn broker who'd give her better terms. She gave him the tickets to transfer her jewellery, but she neither saw her jewellery again nor received any money from Sempill. Police stated in evidence that Sempill had toured the country for orders as a wine and spirit broker. He'd obtained £53 by fraud from a woman licensee in Sussex, now asked for that offence to be taken into consideration. He had one previous conviction. Sempill was said in court to have been educated at Bognor (Sussex) and WA Universities. In March, 1920, he was appointed secretary of Ashburton Road Board, was stationed at Onslow on the NW coast of WA. Continuing a colorful career, he was later appointed assistant superintendent of police at Nairobi, in Kenya. He resigned in 1927 after getting into debt. From 1929-32 Sempill served as a flight-lieut. in the RAF. In 1940, when told he was too old to hold a commission again, he rejoined the RAF as an AC2. He deserted a few months later when his commanding officer received complaints about his debts. Sempill's counsel explained that when he was accused in Sussex in September 1946, of fraud, Sempill tried to take his life by taking an enormous quantity of tablets. He was found in a locked room in a state of collapse, was absolutely distracted at the thought of a conviction, and ran away. Leaving the dock for the cells, Sempill glanced at Mrs. Saravanamottu, who said afterwards, 'When I met him at a famous West End cafe, his manner was that of the perfect English gentleman.' She is the sister-in-law of the High Commissioner for Ceylon. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75771331

Won M.M. A man of good scholastic and military record, Charles Sempill, was a member of the AIF in World War 1, won a military medal for gallantry in action. After he left WA and had completed his police activities in Africa, he obtained a commission in the RAF In England, lost it because of his age shortly before the outbreak of World War 2.

1939 England and Wales Register living in St Pancras as 'author and journalist'