Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 01:11
LEVY, Philip
(1831–66).
Maungatapu murderer.
Philip Levy was born in London of Jewish parents and came to Victoria as a free immigrant, setting up in business as a general trader. Later he shifted his operations to the Otago goldfields. There his activities brought him under police attention as he was suspected of being both fence and lookout man for the Burgess and other gangs. He had no known police record. Summoned to Hokitika in early 1866 by Burgess, he thereafter became an active member of the gang. In the trial he was unsuccessfully defended by Albert Pitt, and went to the gallows protesting his innocence. He was executed in Nelson Gaol on 5 October 1866, along with Burgess and Kelly; Sullivan, the fourth member of the gang, was reprieved.
Trials, Notable; Maungatapu Murders.
by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.