COSTS IN BARNEY TRIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21774, 13 October 1932, Page 14

COSTS IN BARNEY TRIAL

ABOUT £SOOO FOR UEFKKCB. It was stated that the total costs of the defence in the recent trial on a charge of murder of Mrs Barney, in London, both at the Police Court and at the Old Bailey, would amount at the very outside to £SOOO. Probably they would be less. Owing largely to the expedition with which the mal was conducted, says the Daily Telegraph, this is very much less than the sums which have been expended in other eases involving the capital charge. The brief of Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C., who led for Mrs Barney, was marked at 750 guineas, and his daily “ refresher ” was 100 guineas. The two juniors, Mr Walter Frampton and Mr Maurice Alexander, received respectively 500 guineas and 233 guineas, and corresponding “ refreshers.” The costs would have been very much less had it not been that Mrs Barney’s legal advisers were anxious to be prepared for every contingency. They had secured the presence of a large number of expert witnesses. Her solicitor had been at pains to secure witnesses whose testimony would carry the utmost weight. It was not found necessary to call this evidence. The prosecution costs were in the neighbourhood of £IOOO. Mrs Barney was acquitted.