BODY IN A CAR

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 22, 27 January 1931, Page 10

BODY IN A CAR

MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER

ENGLISH VILLAGE SENSATION

(Eeceived 27th January, noon.) LONDON, 36th January. The trial of Alfred: Arthur Bouse on a charge of murder opened at the Northampton Assiges. A queue waited hours for admission to the limited space in the old-fashioned Court. The majority of seats were occupied by tieketholders. 'Rouse, who was brought by road from Bedford Prison, was smuggled in by the, back entrance to the Court. He was well dressed, and pleaded not guilty. He did not look at his wife, who secured a position in a shop to help raise funds for his defe'nee. The jury included two wpmon. Many of the spectators were women. Mr. Norman Birkett, opening the prosecution, emphasised tho fact that the ■victim had not been identified; This did not affect the legal aspect of the proceedings, but it was nevertheless an important and a significant point. Counsel for the defence challenged the women jurors, who were withdrawn and replaced by men. . - '. My. Birkett drew attention to Rouse's behaviour after the fire, when he emerged from a ditch while two men were passing, and waited until they were fifteen to twenty yards distant. Then Rouse said, referring-to a blazing motor-car a quarter of a mile distant, "It1 looks as if someone has a bonfire ; there." Mr. Birkett emphasised that it was significant that Rouse did not appear to help, yet it was his own car which was burning, with an unknown man inside. Counsel added^ that the causes of an accidental fire were missing in tho present case, as Rouse already had'stopped the car. Experts would show that the fire had been continually replenished by leakage from a loosened petrol pipe. The Court then adjourned. lln November last v the badly-burned body of a man was found in the smouldering remains of a baby car at Hardingstone village, near Northampton. Arthur Alfred Rouse, owner of the car, was arrested on a charge of murder. There was subsequently a prolonged inquiry in the Police Court. Despite all the efforts of the police, the identity of the charred victim was not established. ._