KENYA DRAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 76, 31 March 1941, Page 5

KENYA DRAMA.

BARONET CHARGED, j EARL FOUND DEAD IN CAkj i LONDON'. March 22. | Lady Broughton, a noted blonde' beauty, was a striking figure at the pre-| liminary hearing at Nairobi, Kenya, of the char-v brought against her husband. Major Sir Delves Broughton. aged 53. of the murder of the Karl of Erroll, aged 40. Sir Delves Broughton was married three months ago.

The Karl \va« found dead in Ills oar by the roadside outside Nairobi on January 24, after a party at the Muthaiga Club, centre of Nairobi's social life. It is alleged that ho was shot while at the wheel of his ear. Wearing a blue, flowered silk dress.' with a. pink halo hat, she sat next toj her husband's counsel, with Lord Car|bery, whose name was mentioned at the jhearinjr, behind her. j Sir Delves Broughton sat in the dock. |ehain-emoking cigarettes. He frequently scribbled notes which lie passed down to I his counsel.

Chief Inspector Poppy read three! statements, allegedly made by Brough-S ton. i In one of these Broughton said he had j received three anonymous notes at the! Muthaiga Club suggesting that, there;' was a liaison between his wife and'. !Erroll. '-I "Eternal Triangle." ';' 'i'lie first ni.fce, written early ini January, said: "Von weie like a cat on I [hot bricks last night. What about the!, leternal triangle? What are you doing! about it?" J The second note, written two or three I days 'before the shooting, asked: "Do! you know that your wife and Krroll have been staying together at Carbcry'sj, house at NyeriZ" I

The third note, a day later, said: "Xo fool like an old fool. What are you going to do about it*:'' Broughton, in a statement, said he had known Erroll for 15 years. His wife had seen Erroll almost daily since she made his acquaintance. After having admitted, a fortnight previously, that they loved each other, !she went for a few days to Lord Carj bery's country house.. When she returned he told her not to worry about it. and said he would leave Kenya in fulfilment of their marriage pact that if cither fell in love with someone else they would part. ! Ho intended going to Ceylon and i planned to return later to wind up his affairs, leaving her in possession of the I bungalow at Karen. I He had become reconciled to the new | development, and realised that nothing j could be done about it. He was prepared, as a lifelong racing man, to cut his losses. ! Broughton admitted he might have' said to a friend, "What a pity! We've| been married only throe months, and' now it's all finished." I His wife gave him a farewell note! to drop on Erroll's coffin. He arrived jlate, having mistaken the time of the ' funeral, so he dropped the note on the 'grave after the mourners had gone. Chief-Inspector Poppy, in evidence, said he vioited Broughton's bungalow the day after the tragedy and found • the glowing remains of a big lire in the • garden refuse pit, on which Broughton ,j admitted having poured aviation spirit.

Bloodstained Stocking. j Chief-Inspector Elliott testified thatj he had found part of a blood-stained! golf stocking and charred racking in! the fire. j Other police evidence was that three: ; hours after the tragedy Broughton iipi>eared at the police station in aj shaken condition, holding a white hand-; kerchief, which, he said, his wife wished to l>e placed on Erroll'es breast. I I Broughton, on January ."{O. inquired I whether Europeans were hanged for j murder. i "If you found your wife in bed with [another man and shot him, would you be charged and hanged for murder?"! j Broughton asked. I Elliott replied that in those circumi stances a murder charge would be i unlikely.

A roadhouse proprietress, gave evidence that Erroll and Lady Broughton left her premises shortly before midnight on January 23. a few hours before JErroll was found dead in his car. Broughton 'denied any knowledge of the circumstances of Erroll's death. The hearing was adjourned. Before the hearing began Lady Broughton had a long conversation with her husband. Broughton, eleventh holder •£ abaronetcy, created in 1660. owns a tea plantation of 1000 acres near Nairobi, and an estate of 13,000 acres in Staffordshire, England. In 1913 he married Vera Edyth Bosjeawen. Welsh explorer and huntress. ■ They were divorced la<t year, and Broughton. a few months later, married I Diana Caldwell, a noted beamy.