THORN ON TRIAL

Southland Times, Issue 19500, 14 March 1925, Page 5

THORN ON TRIAL

MURDER OF ELSIE CAMERON. PLEA OF NOT GUILTY. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright). (Reuter’s Telegrams). LONDON, March 11. The Sussex Assize Court was crowded at the opening of the trial of Norman Thorn for the murder of Elsie Cameron, a typiste, at Crowborough. He pleaded “not guilty.” Sir M. Curtis-Bennett, in prosecuting, dealt with the intimacy between Thorn and Miss Cameron, who, in November last year, mistakenly thought she was pregnant, and pressed Thorn to marry her. The prosecution alleged that Thorn murdered Elsie Cameron because she stood in the way of his marrying a Miss Caldicott. Police tests indicated that Miss Cameron could not have hanged herself as Thorn alleged. BRUISES ON THE BODY. NO SIGNS OF HANGING. LONDON, March 12. (Received March 13, 10.30 p.m.) A beam from Thorn’s hut was produced in Court by the police, who described the tests they made with a cord to which a weight was attached, equal to the weight of Miss Cameron. These tests produced no mark on the beam, which the Judge and Jury examined.

Defending counsel suggested that if the girl who, acording to Thorn, suicided, threw the rope over the beam at the spot where the knot was, there would be no mark. Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Chief Pathologist, said the bruises on the body were caused shortly before death. Two Indian clubs found outside the hut would cause the bruises on the face. There were no external marks to signify hanging. Thom remained imperturable and took notes throughout the proceedings.