Coroner overturns 1935 suicide ruling, paving way for police officer's honor roll inclusion
A NSW coroner has declared there is insufficient evidence to label Constable Leslie Andrew Nash's 1935 death a suicide, opening the possibility of adding him to the police Roll of Honour.
After a 90-year dispute, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame ruled that the circumstances surrounding Constable Leslie Andrew Nash's death in 1935 lack sufficient proof to be classified as suicide, issuing an open finding. She recommended that the NSW Commissioner of Police review his case for inclusion on the NSW Police Roll of Honour, potentially restoring his reputation. The original suicide verdict had deprived his pregnant widow Katie of a police pension and cast a lasting stigma on the family.
The push for reassessment was led by his son Peter and daughter Alma, who argued that Nash was a devoted husband and unlikely to take his own life. Peter died at 91, six weeks after the Supreme Court cleared the way for a fresh inquiry. The coroner considered alternative explanations, including accidental firearm discharge, but found none conclusively proven.
