A SORDID CRIME.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 303, 11 December 1922, Page 3

A SORDID CRIME.

ILFORD MURDER TRIAL

CYNICAL BEARING OF FEMALE PRISONER.

London, Dec. 9. Public interest is maintained in the Ilford murder case. A queue commenced to form at 9 o’clock on Friday night and by 3 o’clock in the morning there were sufficient to fill the pubhc gallery of the Old Bailey to overflowing. A man sold his place in the queue for 60s. . The cross-examination ot Mrs Thompson was continued. She affirmed that though she deceived Bywaters she never had any intention to poison her husband. She left the box weening bitterly. The Solicitor-General pressed Mrs Thompson to say "hat it was she wanted Bywaters to bring her to give to her husband. Was if something to noison him' 1 The prisoner replied: r<o. out to make him ill. ’ . , The .Judge: Wasn’t it suggested that you should give him something "’prison” r d calmly: It was something to take "hen he had a heart attack and he would not be able to resist it. The replv caused a sensation. She continued that after the scuffle she heard someone run away. bne recognised Bvwaters’s hat and coab She admitted that she made false statements to the police owing to agitation. She wished to shield Bywaters not wishing his name to he connected with hers. She did not know her husband was dead at the time. Mrs Thompson continued that she might have said she would give her husband something one of these days. «lhe admitted that she discussed with Bywaters making her husband ill, nut she did not mean anything when she wrote “Darling, you must do something.’’ She meant that Bywater; must either find her a situation or she would go away with him The fntements in the letter about her husband complaining that the tea tasted Hitter and references to ground glass were all imaginary. She wrote By waters anything in the hope of retaining his affections. She offered to provide her husband with the information necessary for a divorce hut be, would nnt consent. Her inquiries about ptomaine poisoning were merely idle curiosity. Mr. Cecil Whitelv. in closing his speech on behalf of Bvwaters,. admitted that Bvwaters allowed himself drift into a dishonourable intrigue, but he was no murderer. He asked the jury to sav he was not guilty, either because it was a case of e v eusable homicide or one of manslaughter. Mr. Whitelv stated that he had been instructed to sav nothing on he half of Bvwaters which would hamper the defence of Mrs Thompson. At luncheon Mrs Thompson was Carried from the dock fainting, while 'r mother also fell in a dead faint and had to be carried out. Mr. Curtis Bennett, on behalf of Mrs Thompson, told the jury: “It is not ordinary people von are trying. You have got to get into the atmosphere of the play. Mrs Thompson is a woman who lives in a melodramaThe woman prisoner is one of the most extraordinary personalities you or I have ever met. She is eight years older than the man. and seemed to show she was prepared to go to any extreme to keep his love, but in realitv she was not prepared to do anything. Her outpourings were simply the outpourings of an hysterical, meiod ram at ic hr ai n. ” Both Mr. Whitelv and Mr. Curtis Bcrnett complained about the two people being charged with the murder together. The Judge explained that if two people conspired to murder both were guilty, although one was not present when the murder was committed. Mr. Curtis Bennett’s speech was not- finished when the Court adjourned The Judge warned the jury not to forget that “We are trying a vulgar, ccmmon crime. We are not listening to a play.’’— (A. and N.Z.)