Not guilty of murder

Press, 30 January 1981, Page 5

Not guilty of murder

NZPA London. A man found not guilty of r rdering a young Newp Zealander, in a London pubj had a shocking record ofo violence, a judge said at the Old Bailey yesterday, I Malcolm McComb, aged., 26, had been accused ofh murdering Roderick Macj Leod, aged 24, in the Balhanr; Hotel on February 26 last;: year; H He and'his brother, Glen, <i aeed 20, were found notil guilty of murder after the. I jury had been out for 50 p ■minutes. . '< I Yesterday the prosecution ' i counsel revealed that Mai- s Icolm McComb had eight pre- ' ■vious convictions. s 1 Mr Jusitce Edward Clark, ' ■reading his psychiatric b (record., commented that it J i showed “a considerable alco-js •hoi problem." I* Malcolm McComb was s i found guilty of wounding! •with intent to do serious in- j' 'jure. Half-way through the I (trial he had pleaded guilty!.’

to charges of affray, aggravated burglary, and unlawful wounding. He was jailed for five years. His brother, Glen, who had pleaded guilty to charges of affray and damaging property, was '* sentenced ,to a total .of three years imprisonment -t— two years on the charge of affray' and .a further year on the charge of damaging property. Counsel for Glen McComb, Mr Mike Mansfield, making a plea for leniency, said: "Glen accepts his moral responsibility in this incident. The incident has had a serious effect on him, and while it is not possible to guarantee .no further breaches of the’ law it would seem this young man has learnt ; very serious lesSOil.” • ‘ Referring to Malcolm McComb’s young wife and two children, his counsel-, Mr Stephen-Solley, told Mr

-:Justice Clark: "Although his Ijwife and Malcolm were livji • apart at the time of the ».'incident they have come together again, i would ask > for a sentence that is not so > long it may lead to the . breakup of this family." .; Malcom McComb was sentenced to two years on tiie , charge of affray, a further ■ two years on the charge of i wounding with intent, and a . yeare’s imprisonment on the charge- of aggravated , .burglary. J During the trial, the pros-:-edition alleged that the two • ibrothers, who were working Jas barmen in the nearby ( Bedford hotel, 'ed a group lion a "mission of destrucjtion" to the Balham Hotel •which had some months I earlier placed a ban on Mai- ; colni McComb. • j During several minutes of "bedlam and absolute chaos” i Mr MacLeod was stabbed li twice and 2000 sterling J(SNZ492O) worth of damage ■ done.

>, But the defence claimed ■'that the murder weapon was * not the weapon which Glen ■ McComb took into the hotel. : nor the one which several •’witnesses claimed they saw him with. The defence said the • wound could have been in- ■ flicted before Gier. McComb confronted the barman, possibly by someone else. i Mr MacLeod, whose parents live in Christchurch. i had been employed as a barman in the hotel three weeks before the incident. Passing sentence. the . Judge said that Malcoim McComb had a shocking record for violence, with eight previous convictions. lie added: "Both of you must feel in your consciences something more than regret that your armed expedition resulted in the death of a completely innocent barman who was a stranger to you and had nothing to do with this violence.”