A £3000 heist on a warehouse in London's East India Docks is witnessed by an elderly newspaper salesman called Joe Burrage (Stanley Van Beers). Since he knows a lot of local people who are connected to the city's underworld, the police are keen to put him in front of an ID parade. By the end of the day, he has disappeared without trace. The police find his lodgings ransacked, but his suitcase contains an expensive suit and a pair of shoes that a man like Burrage would not have worn let alone could have afforded. Detective Inspector Turner (Colin Tapley) is curious as to why no one has turned up to claim them since they were most likely stolen. He has the records of all the suspects connected to the warehouse job checked to see if they might fit any of them. Meanwhile, a greengrocer who saw Burrage going to the police station recalls seeing a dry cleaners van pull up outside and the driver seemed keen on observing his movements. The van was clearly a phony since it was a hire vehicle with a do-it-yourself notice advertising a fictitious company painted on the side panels. Then the body of a man is discovered on the marshes and, apart from it being of a man in his mid-thirties and without the missing man's injured leg, its description matches that of Burrage's exactly. That is reinforced by the fact that the dead man has chalk under his fingernails, which a man in his line of work would have done to chalk up headlines on his boards. The laundry van is finally traced and traces of blood are found in the back, which match the blood group of the dead man. The driver is identified as one Richard Wooland (Richard Shaw) but he has disappeared from his lodgings. A search of his room uncovers the clothes belonging to Burrage leading the police to suspect that this man might have a double murder on his conscience. A secret pocket found in Burrage's coat is found to conceal packages of cocaine and the police get lucky when a left luggage ticket is matched with his suitcase. At the train station the attendant says that a local businessman called Richard Crawford leaves the case there regularly. Crawford's wife reveals that her husband has been missing for days and does not have a clue as to what line of business he his in. Is Crawford the head of a drug-trafficking ring? Did he murder Joe Burrage and assume his identity? Who is the man who was found dead on the marshes and could Crawford have had a dual identity?
A neat little crime short made as part of the Scotland Yard series of cinema supporting features. It's basic story about a drug-trafficking operation and thieves falling out is, at first glance, mundane second feature crime material that can be found in countless quickies. But, Richard Charpenter and Montgomery Tully's screenplay (the latter also directed this) contains an appealing plot element about an ordinary, respectable and middle class businessman (skilfully played by Stanley Van Beers) who leads a double life impersonating an elderly newspaper man as a front for his underworld activities. It suggests a man who quite possibly was bored with his dreary, respectable everyday existence doing this as a means of finding excitement and getting pleasure out of successfully carrying out his illegal activities under the noses of the police for goodness knows how many years as well as his family and friends being none the wiser too. As expected of this series, there are some interesting period London locations that are atmospherically shot in black and white and serve to create a fine sense of place and atmosphere. In addition, most of the characters featured in these little films are ordinary, everyday people with the same sort of aspirations that most working class people would have and, we suspect, some of them here turned to crime as a result of there being little opportunity or prospects in post war austerity Britain.
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