DOMESTIC DRAMA

Southland Times, Issue 25342, 22 July 1935, Page 8

DOMESTIC DRAMA

ELDERLY FARMER'S CRIME. YOUNG WIFE FATALLY SHOT. With fingers twitching nervously on the ledge of the dock, an elderly poultry-farmer stood in the Assize Court at Huntingdon, England, last month, and heard sentence of death pronounced upon him for the murder of his young wife. Inordinate jealousy, according to the prosecution, was the motive of the crime.

In the presence of two sons by a former marriage the' husband levelled a gun at his wife and shot her through the heart. He failed to convince the jury that it was an accident. It was in the tiny court in the market square of Huntingdon, before Mr Justice Hawke and a jury, on which were two women, that after an hour’s deliberation Walter Osmond Worthington. aged 57, engineer and poultryfarmer, of The Meads, Broughton, was found guilty of the murder of his 28-year-old wife, Sybil Emily, on the evening of March 9. Worthington, dressed in a navyblue suit, was pale and slightly agitated. When he had heard his fate pronounced he walked with bowed head through the curtained doorway of the dock accompanied by warders. Wife Forbidden to Visit Sister. The facts related by Mr Roland Oliver, K.C., and borne out by a dozen witnesses, were not seriouslydisputed until the question arose as to how the gun was discharged. Worthington and the woman were married in November, 1932, and the relations between them were by no means happy. The wife was shot in the lounge of their house at short range, and death was practically instantaneous. Worthington was very jealous of his wife, remarked counsel. She had a sister whose husband, Mr Wright, was licensee of the Crown Inn at Broughton, and living at home with them was their son Lionel. So jealous was Worthington of this young man that he forbade his wife to visit her sister.

In December last Mr Wright went to The Meads to find out why Mrs Worthington had not been to see her sister. Worthington told him, “Because I won’t let her go,” and when asked wh-- replied: “Because Lionel is there.” “What on earth are you talking about?” inquired Mr Wright, and Worthington answered, "He said (or did) something a week after I was married.” He was pressed to say what it was, but refused.

Picked up a Gun.

Next Lionel Wright, accompanied by his mother, visited Worthington, who then denied having made any allegation against the young man, Worthington picked up a gun, but Lionel directed him to put it down, and he did so. A little later Ivor Frederick Parker, a brother of Mrs Worthington, who was on a visit from London, complained to the husband of the way he was treating his wife. Worthington remarked, “I know, old man. I am so fond of her that it makes me very jealous.” Apparently Worthington continued in that state of jealousy. On the night of the tragedy he entered the lounge where his two sons, aged 16 and 15, were sitting, and placed a gun in the corner. Shortly afterwards the wife entered and was putting on her coat when Worthington picked up the gun and called-out, “Stand back! What’s up tonight? You are going for a motor-bike ride, I know.” Then the gun was discharged and Mrs Worthington fell lifeless on the floor. One of the boys asked, “What did you do that for?” and his father knelt down and prayed, and afterwards left the house, saying he was going to tell the rector. He appeared at the rectory later and, it was alleged, exclaimed to the Rev. A. J. S. Stearn, “I have shot my wife;- take me to the police station.” It Was An Accident.” At the police station Worthington told Inspector Hodson: “She wanted to go out, and I didn’t want her to. I put the gun up—and there, I’m afraid ... I have left a letter for you in the bureau, and my son has got the key.” When before the magistrates Worthington pleaded: “I did not intend to hurt her. It was an accident.” The letter referred to was in an envelope addressed “To the police.” In it Worthington had written: “I beg your pardon for all this trouble, but please sift this thing out. My wife’s nephew is the cause of all this tragedy. I cannot endure this any longer.” Lionel Wright, the nephew, denied ever having given Worthington the slightest cause for jealousy. There were pathetic incidents in the course of the evidence. The 15-year-old son of Worthington struggled to keep back his tears when he spoke of his father praying, and the judge, noticing his distress, advised him in kindly tones to try to bear up. At times Worthington gave vent to his emotion, particularly when the rector, with whom he had been friendly, spoke of his invariable kindness. Worthington then went into the witness box and gave his version of what happened. Midnight Vigils. In January his wife was with her sister for a week without his permission. He was anxious that she should come back, and he waited up until after midnight every night hoping she would return. When he went to bed he left the doors unlocked. After coming back she continued to visit the Crown, and he got very worried and distressed about it. On the Monday before the Saturday on which she was shot she was at the Crown from 3 until 6.20 in the evening, and on the Thursday from 3 until 10. He felt very uneasy about it all the week. On the Saturday when she was preparing to go out he told her it was unreasonable, and she replied that she should go. When she came downstairs he tried to reason with her, reminding her that she had been out quite a lot that week, and suggesting that she might remain home that night. “No, I have made up my mind to go,” she declared. Before that he had knelt down in the hall and

written the note to the police on the table there. His intention was if she did not listen to him, to shoot himself. He took the gun from the hall and put it in the corner of the room. He had not then loaded it, but he had cartridges in his pocket. His wife called out, “Is my coat there?” and as she turned round from getting it he had the gun in his hand. He asked. “Where are you going—for a motor-ride?” and before he could carry on the conversation the gun went off in his hand. He did not put it to his shoulder, and it was not his intention , to shoot her or hurt her. He was staggered when it exploded. “I wanted to shoot myself because my life was so miserable,” declared Worthington when Mr Oliver asked him how he thought he could do it without any previous preparation. To most of the people in court the sentence at death was unusually impressive, no similar instance being bn record at Huntingdon for 20 years.