MURDER CHARGE

Evening Post, Issue 149, 20 December 1935, Page 3

MURDER CHARGE

DISMEMBERED BODIES

THE RAVINE SENSATION

CASE AGAINST DOCTOB

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, November 30. What is known as the Ravine Murder case is causing a good deal of sensation throughout the country. The Police Court proceedings are in progress at Lancaster, where Dr. Buck Ruxton is charged with the murder of Isabella Ruxton, his wile; and Mary Jane Rogerson, nursemaid to his children. Human remains, identified to be those of. two women, were found in a ravine at Moffat, Scotland, some weeks ago. The ravine passes beneath a bridge carrying the.. main Edinburgh road. Mr. C. R. Paling, who appeared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said it was quite clear that the remains were portions of only two bodies, and that both bodies were female. Body number one consisted of a head, two arms, two forearms and hands, two thighs, two feet, and two legs. There was no trunk. Body number two consisted of a head, two arms, two forearms and hands, two thighs, a right leg, a left leg, a foot, a thorax, and a pelvis. Tlvt body was practically complete with the exception of the right foot. Many of the bones had the skin and flesh taken off. The heads were found separately. Part of the scalp and the eyes had been removed, the nose, ears, and lips cut off, the teeth drawn, and the face skinned. Body number two, in addition, had the finger tips cut off and the ends of the toes removed. It was evident that every effort had been made to remove any marks that might lead to identification. One body was that of a young woman, 20 to 25, plump and well developed, under 5 feet in height, who was the victim of an assault, causing bruising on the face and arms, shortly before death. She received two blows from a blunt instrument on top of her head, but it is not possible to define the cause of death. That was ■bodynumber one: Body number two was that of a well-developed, full-chested female, about 35 to 40 years of age, about 5 feet in height. A bone uvthe neck was found to be fractured, and this suggested manual strangulation. Traces of hemorrhage in the lungs symptomatic of asphyxia corroborated this possibility, while the removal of ears, nose, and tips of fingers, which would show the presence of asphyxia, might be significant. EXPERT DISMEMBERMENT. Continuing, Mr. Paling said:— "Dismemberment, Professor Sidney Smith will say, was carried out in an expert manner, which will show that the operator was quite familiar with human anatomy. The removal of those parts which would have helped in identification and those parts which might have borne evidence of the cause of death indicates medical knowledge. . "All the parts were bloodless. The absence of blood in the vessels suggests that dismemberment took place quite shortly after death, when the bodies were drained of blood: ; "Dismemberment would take an amount of time, which would depend on how fast the -operator worked. Death took place about fourteen days —of course, this can be only: approximate—before October 1. A dental examinaion has been made. There were some teeth found: .In body number one several were missing. In body number two all were missing except one in the lower jaw. There had been removals just before or just after death. Mr. Paling said that Ruxton practised in Dalton Square, and lived there with his wife and three children and Miss Rogerson, the maid. Mrs. Ruxton and Miss Kogerson were, last seen in Lancaster on September 14. Mrs. Ruxton, who was born in Stirling, married a Dutchman named Van Hess in 1920, and assumed Dutch nationality. When in 1927 she met Ruxton in Edinburgh, he was known as Gabriel Hakin. She was then employed in a restaurant and he was studying medicine at the university. Isabella followed him to London in- 1928, and secured a divorce. In April, 1929, Ruxton changed his name by. deed poll to Ruxton, and in August a child was born to Mrs. Ruxttfn. The two younger children were born at Lancaster, where Ruxton and Isabella came in 1930 when Ruxton purchased the practice there. Miss Rogerson entered their employment in 1931. Mr. Paling said that on September 15 Ruxton called on her parents at Morecambe and left a message that they had gone to Edinburgh for a holiday. On October 9, Mrs. Rogerson gave information to the police. RUXTON GOES TO THE POLICE. "At four o'clock on the morning of October. 10," Mr. Paling continued, "Police Inspector Clark saw Ruxton come off the train from Edinburgh. Ruxton told him he had been to Edinburgh to try and find his wife, but had been unsuccessful." The officer drove him home. On the way Ruxton said: "You know, Inspector, Edmohdson (a solicitor) knows where my wife and maid are. A few weeks ago my wife asked me for a car to go to Edinburgh and I allowed her to take it. I was suspicious and hired a car and placed it in a street unknown to my wife. Later I saw Edmondson's car in Dalton Square. My wife's car and Edmondson's moved off together. I followed in the car I had hired and arrived at Edinburgh, where they stayed at the Adelphi Hotel. I visited, the Adelphi the following morning and found that they had been staying there in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Buxton." Mr; Paling said that was untrue. Mr. Edmondson's father and mother were with him in that party. As Ruxton was getting from the car he said: "You make inquiries of Mr. Edmondson at the Town Hall. He will be able to tell you where my wife and maid are." : That night Ruxton went to, the police station, said that Mrs. Ruxton had left him, and gave a detailed description of her. While he was there at the police station the Chief Constable came into the room. Ruxton said that the fact that the newspapers were publishing that his wife had left him was affecting and depreciating his practice. A MORNING'S HAPPENINGS. "What happened in Dr. Ruxton's house on the night of September 14," said Mr. Paling, "is .only known to Ruxton. "A charwoman should have bden at the house at 8 the following morning. At 6.30 Ruxton went to her house and told her his wife and Miss Rogerson had gone to Edinburgh. At 9 o'clock, wearing shirt and trousers, he took in newspapers through' the semi-opened door. •At 10 he told a milk girl his wife and maid had gone away with the children. That was untrue, as the children were in the house. Half an hour later Ruxton bought four gallons

of petrol in cans, and at 11 filled up his car tank with four more gallons at af°t her garage. A woman who called at the house for a minor operation on her boy was told by Ruxton his wife was away; there was only himself and the little maid in the house, and they were pulling up the carpets for the decorators in the morning. "About 11.30 Ruxton took his three children to a Morecambe dentist, and .said he would call later in the day for them. His right hand was bandaged. He said he had cut it with a tin-opener. That afternoon Ruxton asked a woman panel patient to tidy up for him. He told her that Mrs. Ruxtdn was at Blackpool with her sister, and that Mary was away on holiday. She found that the stair carpet and landing carpets had been removed. He asked her to scrub the stairs and give the bathroom a 'real good scrub." The bath was stained a dirty yellow. Carpets were spread out in the rain outside the house, and Ruxton said it was a good way of washing them. The woman, Mrs. Hampshire, saw a table laid for two people in the lounge on the first floor. Straw was littered over the place, and could be seen under the doors of Ruxton's bedroom and Mrs. Ruxton's room. She could see bits sticking out. She discovered that both these rooms were locked. The library on the ground floor also was locked. Later he told her she could have carpets and a blue suit in the waiting-rjoom. He said he had been wearing the suit. that morning, and that it had blood on it from the cut on his hand. THE FOLLOWING DAY. "Next morning while Mrs. Oxley, who worked in the house, was waiting outside after 9.15, Ruxton drove up. He was unshaven and without collar arid tie. She noticed that the hall light was burning. She found Ruxton's bedroom and the drawing and dining rooms locked, but Mrs. Ruxton's bedroom was open. Previously that morning he had called at Mrs. Hampshire's and had said he would have the blue suit cleaned. She insisted that he should not go to that expense on her behalf. "Ruxton picked up the coat and pointed to a tab on the inside of the pocket. He said that he had got his name on it and was going to cut it out. He insisted that it must be done there and then, and threw it in the fire and watched it burn. Before he left he repeated his request to get the suit cleaned as soon as possible. "Mrs. Hampshire found what appeared to be bad blood stains on jacket, waistcoat, and trousers. The waistcoat was so bad that she had to burn it. The jacket and trousers were handed, uncleaned, to the police. "Ruxton left his car for service, arid at another garage hired a saloon car. He said he wanted a reliable car as he was going on a long journey." . .' "YOU ARE TELLING .ME LIES." Mr. Paling mentioned that when Mrs. Hampshire went to the house that day she asked why he wanted her. He replied, "Because you give me courage." . He told her his wife had gone to London. He had previously mentioned Birmingham, so she said: "That is three places in two days. I think you are telling me lies." Mr. Paling continued: "He replied that he was; that he was the most unhappy man in the world; that, his wife had run away with another man; that that man had come to his home as a friend and had made love to his wife behind his back." , Dustmen who came in the afternoon saw what appeared to be bloodstains on the carpet in the yard. "They noticed also that there was piled up in the corner a heap of partly-burnt clothing. Amongst that clothing was part of a lady's blue dress and part of some ladies' underclothing. While the dustmen were engaged in their, duties. Ruxton came and said that he wanted everything removed. They removed the partly-burnt clothing, and also a hamper which contained a quantity of straw, but left the carpet because Mrs. Oxley said she wanted.it. FIRES IN THE BACKYARD. On September 17 he gave instructions for the stripping of the paper from the walls of his house. That night the reflection of a fire in the backyard was seen. The carpet was afterwards found to be badly burned. On September 19 he asked Mrs. Oxley for a quick breakfast. Mrs. Oxley went to the kitchen, and while she was there she heard him make several journeys upstairs and downstairs and through the yard to his car in the back passage. He told her he might be late. When Mrs. Kirwan arrived after he had gone she noticed that Ruxton's bedroom door .and the doors of the dining-rooms were unlocked. She and Mrs. Oxley noticed a peculiar smell coming from the.bedroom. That night there was another fire in the yard, and Ruxton was seen apparently poking or turning it over. v "The suggestion of the prosecution," Mr. Paling said, "is that he was burning something -which "possibly may have had something to do with this case." SCRAPING BLOODSTAINS. On a later day, Mrs. Kirwan pointed out to Ruxton a stain like a bloodstain on the landing curtains. He tore off the stained portion and told her to use the remainder for dusters. On October 6 he complained to Mr. Edmondson, sen., of his wife running up debts, lies she was supposed to have told, her fondness for gambling, and her extravagance. On October 9, Mrs. Nelson, of Edinburgh, Mrs. Ruxton's sister, asked him if he had done anything to her. He said he would not hurt a hair of her head. He suggested that Mrs. Ruxton had taken Miss Rogerson away for the purpose of procuring an • abortion. "Then he made a curious remark," Mr.' Paling said. "He told her he did not stand to gain a penny from his wife's death." Later he asked Mrs. Hampshire about the stains on the carpet and suit, and said, "You'll stand by me, won't you?" On October 12 Mrs. Kirwan saw him scraping the wall of a recess in the yard. He. was using an axe and told her, "There must not be any bloodstains on the wall or they will think I have done a murder," Mr. Paling spoke of identification. The prosecution suggested that Body Number One was Miss Rogerson's and Body Number Two Mrs. Ruxton's. "The finger tips are missing from Body Number Two. Mrs. Ruxton had distinctive features about her fingerprints. In every way possible the bodies correspond with Miss Rogerson's and Mrs. Ruxton's. It has been possible to take finger-prints of Body Number One. Finger-prints identical with them have been found on various articles at the house—on a table, on eight bottles, on a plate, on a vegetable dish. Whoever made those finger-prints, that person's body has been found dismembered in that ravine at Moffat." Diaries kept by Ruxton had been found. That for this year was missing. On February 4 of 1931 was the entry: "Went to Lockerbie by train and then by. car via Moffat to Edinburgh through snow-clad roads."