BOY GUILTY BUT INSANE.

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1928, Page 6

BOY GUILTY BUT INSANE.

MURDER OF WOMAN. “fj;i-;nzy of fain from NEURALGIA.” A Hi-year-old boy, Frederick Finch, indicted at Ohl Bailey London, for thc murder of Matilda Wood, aged 56, who had lived in the sam lf house as Fit ch m Cottenliam Road, was found guilty but iirane, the jury recommending him to mercy. Mr Justice Wright directed him to be detained at Ills Majesty’s pleasure, pointing out that ther e was really no need for a recommendation t<j mercy. a< special provision was made by law tor such cases. Finch, who plead ed not guilty, was defended by Mr Laurence Vine. Mr G. G. Raphael, prosecuting, said that Eijich stabbed Mrs Wood. She died almost immediately. Mrs Winder, who also lived in thc house, heard screams and went to sec what had happened. Finch slabbed her in .the chest with a knife, but she got thc weapon from him. To a neighbour,. Finch said: “1 had been awake all night with toothache,” and Io the police, “I was sitting by the lire. My tooth was aching like mad, and my nerves commenced to jump. That is what caused me to do it. I could not stop myself.” Mrs Winder in evidence said that Finch was a quiet, respectable boy on good terms with everyone in the house Dr Ferguson, of Crouch End, said that when he called, the boy was weeping bitterly. Finch said. “I cannot remember anything at all. I have been awake three nights with neuralgia.”

Mr Vino: Do you think if the pain was very acute from neuralgia it would prevent him from distinguishing between right and wrong?—l think it would be quite sufficient for a boy of thai age. Dr Watson, thc senior medical officer of Brixton Prison, called for the defence, expressed tb.e opinion that Finch was suffering from disease of the mind in an early stage, and that in a frenzy of pain from thc neuralgia he did not knew what he was doing when he stabbed the two women. Apart from the extraordinary facts in thc ease the question of the boy’s mental condition would probably not have arisen for a long time. Sinc t . he had been in prison his symptoms were not definite enough to justify certification. Mr Justice Wright: You do not think that a normal boy of 16, even if suffering from acute neuralgia pains, would stab women with whom he had n 0 quarrel at all? Dr Watson: No, my lord.

As stated. Finch was found guilty but insane, and ordered to be detained during His Majesty’s pleasure.