HAIRS TESTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 13

HAIRS TESTED

OLD BAILEY TRIAL MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE. Questions about hairs found on the front of a car were asked at the Olu Bailey when Cecil Rochfort D'Oyly-Johu, aged 28, was accused of the manslaughter of Mrs Kathleen Louise Herridge, aged Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, K.C., defending elicited that the hairs were sent to the' police laboratory for analysis, and four out of the five were found not to be human hairs at all; that those four hairs probably came from China. . D'Ovly-John, who pleaded not guilty, is now a'salesman living at Blackwater, near Aldershot. , ~ Mr J. Scott Henderson, for the prosecution, said Mrs Herridge was walking up an incline with her cycle on the night of October 14 last when a car, being driven very badly, knocked her down and killed her almost instantly. Her machine was smashed. Whoever was the driver of the car must have been guilty of manslaughter, but He did not wait until his identity could be ascertained or the number of his car taken. "WOMEN LOOKED ON." " Not only did that happen," said Mr Henderson, "but a witness will be called to say that two men and two women were seen to leave the car. and while the two women looked on the men lifted the body of Mrs Herridge from the roadway to the pavement, and that they then reentered the car and drove away." Tt was discovered that on the day following the accident D'Oyly-John had taken his car to London for certain repairs to be done. He admitted that he had been driving home about the time of the accident with his wife, and another man and his wife, and that they got out to examine the car after a bump, but he denied that they had run over the woman. Mabel Eileen Johnstone, a cook-general at Cambridge, said she was cycling, to Blackwater, when she saw a car run into Mrs Herridge. There was a- scream and the car pulled up. Two men and two women got out, one of the women appearing to be in a state of terrible hysteria. The men tried to lift Mi's Herridge, but being unable to do so they dragged her on to the footpath. They then put the cycle on the footpath and drove away. Replying to Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, Miss Johnstone said she first made a statement to the police on January 1, and first gave evidence on March 25. Police Constable Giles was asked by Sir Henry Curti.s Bennett about the hairs found on the car. He agreed that the daughters of Mrs Herridge had expressed the view that they were similar to their mother's hair, and that analysis showed that four of the five hairs were not human hairs, and had probably come from China. The constable said he had exaggerated when he reported Miss Johnstone as being " very much the worse for drink " on New Year's Eve. Replying to Mr Henderson, the constable said the report on the hairs was that four of then, came from a brush. Mr Henderson: How does China come into it?—China bristles. Defendant, in evidence, denied having knocked the woman down or having in any way been responsible for her death, and after hearing his testimony the jury intimated that they did not wish further evidence. Defendant was consequently acquitted.