When an extortion plot ended with the murder of an Australian tourist in Hong Kong

“An Australian tourist who recently arrived from Singapore was found murdered in his hotel suite in Tsimshatsui,” the South China Morning Post reported on December 2, 1970. “Shortly after 9 a.m., a cleaner at the Hong Kong Hotel went to a 12th-floor room .Stock and found the occupant with multiple stab wounds in the chest and head. The tourist, who registered himself at the hotel as Ronald Alan Coombe, 35, was due to leave the colony yesterday, reliable sources said.

“According to sources close to police, on Monday evening a man was seen entering Mr Coombs’ room but did not come out. Investigators found blood stains on the walls of the room and on the window ledge. Bloodstains could also be seen on a scaffolding set up in front of the window, and investigators assumed that the injured attacker fled over the scaffolding.”

On December 31, 1970, the Post reported that “a 20-year-old Australian was remanded in custody for another week yesterday for murder.” Graham Edwards appeared before Mr. A. Garcia in the South Kowloon Court. He is accused of committing murder on December 1 a hotel in Kowloon a fellow countryman, Dr. Ronald Alan Coombe, of having killed. Edwards appeared barefoot and wore a bandage on his injured left hand.”

On March 20, 1971, the Post learned that “Graham Edwards told a criminal trial jury yesterday that he intended to kill Dr. “Blackmailing Ronald Alan Coombe with a photograph that showed him in a compromising position with four other adults.”

“(Edwards) said he met Ms Coombe at the end of June last year and moved into her house as a lodger shortly afterwards. Edwards said he later learned that Dr. Coombe initiated divorce proceedings against his wife and advised her to consent to the divorce. To this suggestion, Ms Coombe replied: “No, the bastard made me suffer for ten years, now he can hang for a while,” said Edwards.

“Edwards then gave information about a burglary he had committed with another man in Dr. Coombs’ house (in Sydney) to get a photo that Dr. Coombe was shown in a compromising position with three women and a man. “The purpose of the break-in was to remove the photo and Dr. “To blackmail Coombe because he and his lawyer had used a very cruel legal trick to lure Mrs Coombe into the divorce settlement,” Edwards said. He said he questioned Ms Coombe about her husband’s sexual habits and found he was “as perverted as a $3 bill”.