Villies Athan Thorley (1912 - 1951)

Born 1912 in East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 19 Dec 1951 at about age 39 in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Villies was born in 1912. He was the son of Thomas Thorley and Clara Trindall. He passed away in 1951.

Jealousy is believed to have been the motive behind the tragedy in which a man and a woman were shot dead in a flat in Telford-st. late yesterday afternoon. Victims of the tragedy were Villiers Athan Phillip Thorley, 39, a tilemaker, and Mrs. Irmgard Jarczewski, a New Australian, who came from Cologne, Germany. The woman was shot in the back of the head and Thorley had a bullet wound in the temple. Detectives investigating the shooting learned that Thorley was very jealous of the woman, with whom he had been associating since last May and with whom he had been living in the flat for the past three weeks. They were told that several days ago Thorley threatened her with violence. From the position in which the bodies were lying, detectives believe that Thorley shot the woman from behind as she was standing in front of the gas stove and that he then sat down on the floor and shot himself through the temple. The tragedy was discovered by Mrs. D. Averell, the tenant of the flat, when she arrived home at 6.20 p.m. yesterday after shopping in the city. A single shot .22 calibre rifle was lying on the floor near Thorley's body, and 12 cartridges were found in his clothing. Thorley was separated from his wife and Mrs. Jarczewski was separated from her husband and child. A very attractive woman, she was employed as a housemaid in a Newcastle hotel. newspaper article

Sources

• Birth Death Marriages N.S.W. Reg no. Birth 30845/1912
• Birth Death Marriages N.S.W. Reg no. Death 4676/1952