MUST GET HIS HAIR CUT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17525, 30 April 1925, Page 1

MUST GET HIS HAIR CUT.

WHAT RHODES SAID WHEN ADVISED TO SURRENDER TO POLICE. IS MURDERER OF GRACE BLACKALLER ABNORMAL ? Cy Telegraph.— press Assn.—Copyright.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assn. (Received April fso, 8.45 a. 111.) LONDON, April 29. Ernest Rhodes has been committed for trial for the murder of Grace Blackaller. An ex-employer of Rhodes gave evidence that the boy was abnormal, and \yp.s continually talking about Thorne, the Crowborough murderer, whom he regarded as a hero. Accused seemed not to realise the gravity of his crime, and on the following morning he was playing- with a child and screaming with laughter. When witness advised him to surrender himself he declared that he must get his hair cut, otherwise Grace's mother would not like him. The defending counsel intimated that he was calling medical evidence to show that Rhodes did not know the nature or quality of his act. Surrendering himself to the police, Rhodes, aged nineteen, admitted in a statement having murdered Grace Blackaller by cutting her throat. The crime was committed in the street when the pair were parting near the girl’s home. Grace crawled to her home and, though rushed to hospital immediately, succumbed very shortly after admission.