ALLEGED MURDER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17437, 8 April 1931, Page 5

ALLEGED MURDER

YOUNG BOY’S ORDEAL OLD BAILEY SCENE LONDON, Feb. 10. .A human drama without parallel in the history of the Old Bailey—a brokenhearted mother’s meeting with her 14-Year-old boy after he had stood all day in the dock facing a murder chargeformed the climax yesterday to the trial of Thomas Michael Treacey for the murder of his sweetheart, Margaret Golding, in a half-built house, at Palmers Green. The jury, after more than an hour’s deliberation, could not agree on a verdict. This meaiis that the boy will have to undergo the ordeal of a second trial. There can be no sentence of death passed, even if the jury bring in a verdict of guilty. It was Mr. Justice Avory, the oldest judge of the High Court, who tried the youngest prisoner who has ever stood in the dock of the Old Bailey on this or any other charge. COURT STORMED Women stormed the court to listen to the trial. They seemed to be everywhere. Two women were in the jury box, women sat. in the qrowdgd enclosure..at,dh<*. bsk of thaotteit dock, behind counsel', and in-the public gallery. But there were two who stood out from the rest as the legal duel went on all day. They were the mothers of these boy and girl lovers. The governor of Brixtou Prison brought about the meeting between the mother and her boy, after the case ended. All day long he bad sat beside the boy in the dock. For once Mr. Justice Avory came into court to hear the jury’s verdict without the dreaded black cap in his hand. Treacey stepped nervously to the centre of the dock and gripped the ledge with his twitching fingers. He heard the jury announce that they could not agree, and seemed puzzled. It was not until a warder touched him gently on the arm that he turned round and walked towards the staircase leading to the cells below. Tie looked through the glass panel of the dock, and stared into the face of his mother. The mother, in tears, appealed to the judge for permission to see her boy. Mr. Justice Avory was sympathetic, but helpless.. “It is a matter for the prison authorities,” he said quietly. The prison governor nodded, and the meeting took place a few minutes later in the “accommodation cell” behind the court. It was very brief. It did not last more than five minutes, but it consoled the woman.

A few" minutes later Thomas Treacey was taken back to Brixton.