NOT GUILTY OF MURDER OF TEENAGE HUSBAND

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29269, 29 July 1960, Page 20

NOT GUILTY OF MURDER OF TEENAGE HUSBAND

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, July 27. Mrs Miriam Hill, seed 49, was today found not guilty of murdering her 19-year-old husband, Dennis HUI, who was shot dead on June 13— nine weeks after their marriage. She had denied the charge of murder, which carries the death penalty. The jury of eight men and four women also returned a verdict of not guilty of manslaughter.

The prosecutor (Mr G. Baker) told the Court in Stafford, Staffordshire, that Mrs Hill shot her husband in her bungalow with the muzzle of the gun only inches from his chest. There had been trouble between them, and Hill had earlier been turned out of the home.

Mr Baker submitted that there was evidence that Mrs Hill had intended to shoot her husband if he came to the bungalow again. Mr M. King-Hamilton, defending, said: “It is a common ground that Mrs Hill shot Dennis Hill, but she says when she did it she was acting in self-defence.” The evidence of self-defence was “almost overwhelming,” he added.

Describing the events on the night of June 13, Mrs Hill said in evidence that she had no sooner got the gun than Dennis was through the bedroom door; “There was a dreadful expres-

pression on his face. His eyes were glaring and he really looked mad,” she said. “He kept coming ... he got so near that I said ‘lf you pome any nearer I’ll shoot’ He went to make a grab at me, and there was nothing else for it, so I just touched the trigger.” Mrs Hill said she was terrifled, and all she could remember was running but as fast as she could. She did not think he was dead. She told the Court that the first month <rf her marriage to Dennis Hill, had been quite happy, but after that it began to deteriorate. When she suggested he was spending too freely, Hill attacked her and put a towel round her neck, and then attacked her son, who had tried to distract him. On another occasion he had gone “quite ' berserk” and smashed their china and glassware. Mrs Hill said she became terrified of her husband. Under cross-examination, she said she had told a neighbour to shoot him if he made trouble. She said she could not bear to have him back at the bungalow.