PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 212, 6 September 1921, Page 3

PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME.

j THE ABERTIXLERY MURDER. BODY IX AN ATTIC. d S (From Our Special Correspondent.) a LONDON, July 22. * The first stage of an extraordinary fl case has now been closed by the com- ;, mittal for trial of Harold Jones, of w Abertillery, a boy of only 15 years of age, as the result of the inquest into the f< death of Florence Little, a girl of 11. p The verdict was brought in of wilful jj murder a»ainst the boy. v Interest in the psychology if not che \ pathology of the case is extreme, for the a boy Harold Jones was acquitted only £ last month of strangling an eight-year- j old girl, and many of the people of the f ( district had been active in support of n the boy against the first charge. There j, is now a reaction, and the police had to a take measures for the safety of the a accused. \, The story as told by the little girl's r , mother was that when Florrie did not <3 return home she went to the Jones' f house and found the door locked. She j knocked twice, and then was answered by Harold Jones, who was stripped to f the waist. Ho told her he was bathing. a He told her Florrie had been there, but j. had pone by the back way. Lily Little, Florrie's sister, said that before supper Harold Jones asked her to tell his sister he wanted her, and when they went out to play after supper Flossie Jones came out and told Florrie that Harold wanted her. Both Flossie and Florrie went into the house together. Flossie came out again a little later, but she (Lily) did I rot see Florrie again. jj When Flossie Jones, aged 9, was called v, her father said she would not come. The s coroner said she must, and she wa3 J" brought into the Court crying. She said t she went to her home with Florrie c Little. Her brother was then in the f kitchen. Florrie Little went through jj the back, and she (Flossie) went thro-igh j the passage to the front door. n FOUND THE DOOR LOCKED. s William Greenway, a lodger with the a Joneses, said on the night in question he i found the door locked, which was un- ' usual. He knocked, and in about half-a- £ minute Harold answered. On the arrival < 'of his parents Harold said he had been * I bathing and wanted a clean shirt. This 1 would "be about 10.35. About 10.50 Mr. s Jones and Harold left to join the search t party. j Philip Jone?, father of Harold, de- , scribed how, when the body was found s Ibv the police, he immediately went out "j to look for Harold, who was playing in J the street. When told of the finding of , the body Harold said, "I never done it, l dad." i Mr. Little said his two girls, Florence . and May, finished supper about 9.20. and i they went to the front door to play. He saw them finish their game of hopscotch ten minutes later. He did not see ; Florence alive after 9.30. Mr. Little said he searched the streets till dark, and afterwards he and others scoured the ' mountains with miners' lamps till daybreak, but they failed to find her. At 10.30 he had a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Jones and their daughter, and I they said they hadn't seen Florence. j MOTHER COLLAPSES IN COURT. Mrs. Little was overcome, and could • hardly be heard giving evidence. About ? 10 o'clock she went to the Jonfes' house . I because her daughter May had told her . i Florrie had gone there with Flossie 1 Jones. I knocked twice, she said, and after I had tried to open the door • Harold came. The Coroner: How was he dressed? Witness: He had no shirt on, and wore nothins but trousers. I asked him if Florrie was inside playing with Flossie, but he said no. She had been there, but j went through the back way. Harold then asked mc how my son (a boy who was injured) was. Mrs. Little, when . asked to identify her child's clothes, collapsed. The accused boy made copious notes 1 while the case was going on, but his [ mother was very distressed, and wept . I while she gave 'her evidence. On the I evening of Friday, July S, she said, she " i went shopping, and returned with her ' husband and her daughter, Flossie, and 1 the lodger, Greenaway. When they got home Harold had opened the door, and 1 was just goinsr back indoors. The gas 1 was alight. He had blue trousers and f shoes on. but nothing else. He said, "I 1 have had a wash. Let mc have a clean '' I shirt." Witness and her husband -were 1I up all night. When Harold came home ■ from the search for the missing girl, at s :!.3O in the morning, he had supper and : j went to bed. He got up before eight, ", I and had breakfast as usual. She had noticed no change in his demeanour. 1 FINDING OF THE BODY. { The Deputy Chief Constable of Mon- , mouthshire described the search resultS ing in the body being found in the attic <• of the Jones' house. "After searching 4 various rooms," he said, "I Searched the I; landing near the stairs, when I observed - a manhole in the ceiling near the front bedroom door. I also observed a smear ' on the ceiling near the manhole, and I 8 noticed that the walls had either been - i washed or wiped for a distance of five I or six feet." -'! Police Constable Cox. who discovered

the body in the attic, produced a straw rope used for tying round orange boxes, i and attached to which was a handker- ' chief. This rope, he said, waa tied under • the arms o1 the body. Continuing, witness described another visit to the house nt 0 o'clock on the same evening when in company with another officer they found a stick, the knob of a tabledrawer, and a knife, all of which were bloodstained. BLOODSTAINED EXHIBITS. Pathological evidence was given by the county analyst and his assistant. They produced a portion of linoleum, wallpaper, and stone floor, all of which . were bloodstained. A pair of blue trousers, said to be those of Harold Jones had numerous stains and clots. These were positively of human blood, I and were comparable with the stains on the child's clothes. The knife from the kitchen drawer was covered with human blood from heft to point. Dr. Lloyd described the injuries of the murdered girl, stating that death was due to loss of blood. There was no evidence of outrage. After a retirement of thirty minutes, the jury retuvnod a verdict of wiiful murder ajraitist Harold Jones. I Exclaiming, "Oh. My God!" Mrs. Jone r -. I who had just been up to the boy ami i kissed him, fell back and had to bo removed, while the accused's little sis.er cried bitterly. The boy himself hung his head, and received the verdict impassively. i And there the tragedy stands until Harold Jones once more faceo the judge.