STARCHFIELD ACQUITTED.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2114, 3 April 1914, Page 7

STARCHFIELD ACQUITTED.

END OF 'A SENSATIONAL MURDER TRIAL. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, April 1. Tho casp against tho man Starchfield for the murder of his seven-year-old son in a railway carriage at Camden, rested on tho testimony cf three witnesses as to his identification, but the evidence was conflicting. ;

A witness named White noticed hnskiness in Starchfield's voice in tho Police Court, reminding him of the Imskinoss of tho man who was talking to the deceased boy at Camden station.

AYlien the case, for tho Crown - had closed, Mr. Justice Atkin remarked that the evidence against Starchfield depended entirely on identification by three witnesses, two of whom had not seen Starchfield before. He suggested that it was not safo to allow tho case to go to a jury, though there was no imputation against the witnesses. ' Mr. Bodkin, E.G., agreed to discontinue the case, and a verdict of not guilty was returned, the Judge remarking that the Coroner had violated all principles upon which an inquiry should be conducted. A largo crowd chcercd Starchfield as he left tho Court.