Baronet Charged With Murder

Northern Advocate, 26 May 1941, Page 8

Baronet Charged With Murder

A charge of murdering the Earl oi Erroll was preferred against Major Sir Delves Broughton at a preliminary hearing in the Court at Nairobi, Kenya, last month. The earl was found dead in his car by the roadside outside Nairobi on January 24, after a party at the Muthaiga Club, centre of Nairobi’s social life. It is alleged that he was shot while at the wheel of his car.

A Striking Figure

Lady Broughton, cream-skinned, with perfect features, large, intense eyes, and finely-pencilled natural eyebrows, was a striking figure at the hearing. Wearing a blue flowered silk dress, with a pink halo hat, she sat next to her husband’s counsel. She was married to accused only three months ago. Sir Delves Broughton sat in the dock chain-smoking cigarettes. He' frequently scribbled notes which he passed down to his counsel.

Accused’s Statement

Accused in a statement said he had known the Earl of Erroll for 15 years. His wife had seen Erroll almost daily since she made his acquaintance. After having admitted, a fortnight previously, that they loved each other, she went for a few days to a friend’s country house. When she returned he told her not to worry about it, and said he would leave Kenya in fulfillment of their marriage pact that if either fell in love with someone else they would part. He intended going to Ceylon, and planned to return later to wind up his affairs, leaving her in possession of the bungalow at Karen He had become reconciled to the new development, and realised that nothing could be done about it. He was prepared, as a life-long racing man, to cut his losses.

Chief-Inspector Poppy, in evidence, said he visited accused’s bungalow the day after the tragedy and found the glowing remains of a big fire in the garden refuse pit, on which accused admitted having poured aviation spirit.

In Shaken Condition Chief-Inspector Elliott testified that he had found part of a blood-stained golf stocking and charred sacking in the fire. Other police evidence was that three hours after the tragedy accused appeared at the police station in a shaken condition, holding a white handkerchief which, he said, his wife wished to be placed on Erroll’s breast. Accused, on January 30, inquired whether Europeans were hanged for murder. A roadhouse proprietress gave evidence that the Earl of Erroll and Lady Broughton left her premises shortly before midnight on January 23, a few hours before the earl was found dead in his car. Accused denied any knowledge of the circumstances of the' earl’s death Sir Delv'es Broughton, eleventh holder of a baronetcy created in 1660, owns a tea plantation of 1000 acres near Nairobi and an estate of 15,000 acres in Staffordshire, England. In 1913 he married Vera Edyth Boscawen, Welsh explorer and huntress. They were divorced last year, and a few months later he married Diana Caldwell, a noted beauty. Accused was committed for trial.