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In The Mystery of the Torn Parachute, Lynsdale was a bank cashier who absconded with fifteen thousand pounds in used one pound notes.

During the Second World War, Lynsdale had served as a bomber pilot at RAF Dalcross. It is then that presumably he got to know the Morayshire fairly well. After the war, Lynsdale had become a bank cashier. Over a weekend, Lynsdale took fifteen thousand pounds in used one pound notes and fled to Paris. There he changed some money into Francs at a money changer and then travelled to Marseilles where he booked a passage to the Far East on board a Portuguese tramp steamer.

Shortly thereafter, a piece of French parachute silk was up a tree in Morayshire. The gamekeeper who found it reported hearing an aeroplane approaching from the south, circling and then departing towards the northeast. Biggles called Marcel Brissac for assistance. Marcel told Biggles that a French Loire 4-seater aircraft was missing. It had been chartered by an Englishman, Norman Harrington White who paid for it in cash. White had asked for a parachute. The aircraft departed Le Bourget but never arrived at its destination of Liverpool. Checks with the Currency Control Board revealed that no such person had been given a currency allowance so White, or whoever he was, could not possibly have had the currency through legal means to pay for the charter.

Biggles next travelled to Morayshire and extended his investigations. There, a Captain Mackenzie of the Spey fishery board was able to provide details of all vehicular movements in the area where the parachute silk was found. Biggles' attention was drawn to one Mrs Williams, a widow who should not have been out on the road between 2 and 5 in the morning. Discreet enquiries at the local post office revealed that she had received a parcel recently. During surveillance of her house, Biggles saw a bearded man who had a limp. Checks in London with Gaskin revealed that Mrs Williams was in fact Lynsdale's sister and that Lynsdale had a limp, the result of a flying accident.

Lynsdale had planned his crime well in advance, sending his sister to Scotland first, and then posted most of the proceeds of his theft to her. Taking only what money he needed, he laid an obvious trail to Marseilles and Lisbon. Doubling back to Paris, he then chartered a plane, killed the pilot in flight, took the aircraft to Morayshire and jumped. In Biggles' opinion, however, he had miscalculated in believing that sparesly populated Morayshire was the ideal place to disappear to. In reality, it was the worst possible choice of refuge. The local residents were "wide awake". The local residents took notice of all strangers. The roads were also heavily patrolled in order to control salmon poaching and every vehicle movement was recorded. We can assume that Gaskin eventually arrested Lynsdale and he was tried for theft and murder.

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