AN AUTHOR claims he has unearthed the full story behind a scandal that rocked a Suffolk town over 100 years ago.
Manager of the Masonic Hall in Sudbury, Peter Thorogood, has written a book based on the tale of Henry Cronin Pratt, a bank manager in the town in the 1890s, who absconded with �17,000 worth of savings - more than �1m in modern terms.
What became of Henry Pratt has been a mystery but Mr Thorogood says his research has led him to believe he died a poor man in a New York tenement flat in 1922.
Using various historical sources, which Mr Thorogood researched over two years, the yarn- The Earl, The Rector and the Rogue - also reveals links to the notorious London Cleveland Street vice scandal of the time.
“It’s a true tale and a real Victorian melodrama,” he said.
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