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British Transport Police Journal:
    â€˜When the 2pm train from London Bridge arrived at Preston Park Station just outside Brighton on the afternoon of Monday 27 June 1881, a ticket collector saw a man step unsteadily on to the platform from a first class carriage. He was covered in blood, hatless, without a collar and tie, and very distressed. The collector went to his assistance and he told the collector that he had been attacked just before the train entered Merstham Tunnel. He gave a description of two men who had travelled in the same compartment and said that after receiving a blow on the head he remembered nothing more until the train reached Preston Park. The collector saw nobody else alight from the compartment but he observed that a piece of watch chain was hanging from one of the man’s boots. He pointed this out and the passenger remarked that he had put it there for safety. The condition of this strange and somewhat battered passenger, who gave his name as Percy Mapleton Lefroy, was such that the station master arranged for the platform inspector to take him to the police station at the Town Hall, while the collector was sent to advise the railway police. Thereafter the situation developed in such a way that the obtuseness of the railway officials and of the borough and railway police became the subject of editorial comment in The Times while other newspapers said unkind things in less polite terms.
    Lefroy made an official complaint at the police station and was then taken to the county hospital for his injuries to be treated. The doctor wanted to detain him but Lefroy insisted upon returning to London where he had an important engagement (although he had only just arrived in Brighton). However, he went to the police station first (buying a collar and tie on the way) and was interviewed by several officers, including the chief constable. Lefroy made a statement and also generously offered a reward for the capture of his assailant. He then went to Brighton station and at this stage somebody seems to have been a little suspicious because he was taken into an office and searched. Two old (counterfeit) coins were found in his possession. He denied all knowledge of these.
    In the meantime the carriage was shunted into a siding and an examination made. Three bullet marks were found and there was blood everywhere – on the footboard, mat, door handle, and also on a handkerchief and newspaper left in the compartment. There was, in fact, every sign of a fierce struggle. There were also some coins similar to those found on Lefroy.
    In spite of obvious inconsistencies in his story and of the highly suspicious circumstances, neither the Brighton Police, nor the railway police considered it necessary to detain Lefroy. But they were uneasy and although Lefroy was permitted to join a London train, arrangements were made for him to be accompanied by a detective named George Holmes.
    At this period some of the railway undertakings, including the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, supplemented their own police staff by the employment of Metropolitan Police officers who were seconded by Scotland Yard for the purpose. The salaries of these officers were paid to Scotland Yard by the railways concerned. Detective Sergeant George Holmes was one of these officers and the widespread criticism of his negligence in this case caused Scotland Yard to disown him by issuing a public statement to the effect that he had been a Metropolitan Police officer for eleven years but was now working for the railway. It is always easy to be wise after the event but perhaps poor Holmes was a little slow as will be seen.
    While Lefroy and Holmes were travelling back to London a search of the line was organised. In Balcombe Tunnel, railway staff found the body of an elderly man, later identified as a retired corn merchant named Gold, who lived in Brighton. Gold had been shot and stabbed and near his body was found a knife smeared with blood.