Arthur W Brown

Arthur Brown was found on the Great Western Railway line with his head smashed.

A doctor who carried out the post-mortem said that he thought that Arthur Brown was killed by a blow from behind.

An investigation was carried out by the Central Criminal Investigation Department to trace a soldier and two women that he was said to have gone off with in a taxi on the Saturday night when he was last seen alive. They were said to have gone in a taxi to Burghfield, after leaving a football match, arriving at about 10.45pm leaving him near a public house.

One of the woman was later found and she said that she left him because he made an improper overture. She denied that she had picked him up simply for him to pay the taxi fare.

The taxi driver who took them to Burghfield said that the civilian in the taxi was three parts drunk.

It was not clear how he came to be on the line, however, a constable said that the night was foggy and that it might have been easier for him to get back home along the line rather than the road.

All the railway engines that had passed the place where he was found were examined but no indication that he had been struck by any of them could be found.

He was an electrician's mate from Shaftesbury Road in Reading.