DEATH OF ARCHITECT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 169, 13 April 1935, Page 7

DEATH OF ARCHITECT

Widow and Lover Face Murder Charge . PROSECUTION’S CASE Bournemouth, April 11. In the Magistrate’s Court, Mrs. Alma Victoria Rattenbury, 31, and George Percy Stoner, 19, were charged with murdering Francis Mawson Rattenbury, 67, a retired architect, on March 24. ' Both the Rattenburys had twice been married, each having children by both marriages. The prosecution alleged that Alma Rattenbury and George Stoner stayed together in London for four days as brother and sister. Two days after their return to Bournemouth Rattenbury was found battered and unconscious in his home, and later died in hospital. Tlie prosecution said that Alma Rattenbury admitted the attack, and then accused her lover, subsequently signing a statement in which she said: “My husband dared me to kill him, as he wanted to die. He said, ‘You have not got the guts to do it’ Then I hit him.” Stoner, in a statement said: “I ssw her kiss him good-night, and then I crept into the room and hit him while lie was asleep.” The prosecution said that Stoner, when he was arrested after Rattenbury’s death, had a photograph of Alma and also a love letter she had written him from prison, where she was lying under a charge of attempted murder. The case was adjourned.