BRUTAL KENNINGTON MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 130, 3 June 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

BRUTAL KENNINGTON MURDER.

DEATH SENTENCE PASSED ON ACCUSED.

j Frederick James Andrews was indicted ' on April 21 at the Old Bailey for the murder of Frances Short—one of the most ; callous crimes of recent date. I Mr Horace Avory and Mr Bodkin prose- | cuted for the Treasury, and Mr Lawless | defended. ■ Mr Avory said the prisoner and the de- ! ceased lived together in Garden Cottages, ' Kennington, and the woman supported herself by selling greengrocery from a : stall in Newington Butts. On March 33 quarrelling was heard going on between the two in their room. A faint scream 1 was afterwards heard, and the prisoner was seen to leave the house with the woman's barrow and supply of greengrocery. Ho was asked what he had been doing to her by a neighbour, but he replied that she was not at home. Tha neighbour looked through the window, and in consequence of what she saw an entry was^ffected. The deceased's body was found huddling in a corner covered by some bedding. The body presented a most horrible appearance. The head had been held back aud the throat savageiy cut, and there were no fewer than 41 stabs about the face and the hands. Both eyes had been stabbed through, and the prisoner had taken her boots and shawl off and had sold them for sixpence after he left the house. He also sold her greengrocery from the barrow. When arrested in Long Acre the next morning he made several statements admitting that he had killed the deceased, and said that if he had killed her son too he should have been happy. The prisoner told tho police that he first poked the woman's eyes out with the penknife and then cut her throat.

In defence it was submitted that the prisoner, owing to drink, was in such a condition of mind that he was not accountable for his actions. Mr Lawless asked the jury as an alternative to find the prisoner guilty of manslaughter only.

The jury, in finding a verdict of 'Guilty,' said they regarded the crime as one of a most atrocious character.

Asked what he had to say why sentence of death should not be passed, Andrews replied, 'Penalty of death! Better be hanged than go to penal servitude for life, and the quicker it's over the better.' Then he turned hurriedly, and, waving his hands to the jury, exclaiming, 'Goodbye, good-bye!' was about to leave tho dock before the death sentence was passed.

Mr Justice Grantham said that the murder was of a most cold-blooded character, and he held out no hope of mercy to the prisoner.

Andrews repeatedly interrupted while sentence was being pronounced, and as he left the dock, when His Lordship concluded with the solemn words, 'May the Lord have mercy on your soul,' the prisoner said, 'Yes, and may the Lord have mercy on her son' (referring to the deceased's son).

The prisoner, who was surrounded by several warders, then left the dock muttering that 'the sooner it is over the better.'