In the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead, Albert Hayling, or Bert, was the was the village constable of Broadhinny. He did not appear in the story in person. Edna, the assistant at the village post office, had seen someone approaching Mrs Upward's house on the night of her murder. Mrs Sweetiman, the postmistress, wanted Edna to report it to the police. Edna said she couldn't tell it to Bert because it "would be all over the place."
Major Summerhayes thought of Bert as a slow-speaking man with a sense of his own importance.