APPEAL FAILS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 22 (Supplement)

APPEAL FAILS.

CONDEMNED YOUTH. DRAMA OF A BOBBERY. TENSE COURT INCIDENT. Stanley Eric Hobday is to die on the scaffold. His one remaining chance of escaping the gallows rests with the Home Secretary. His features unmoved, only his extreme pallor betraying the stress of his emotions, Hobday heard from the lips of the Lord Chief Justice the words which confirmed the sentence of death- passed upon him at the Stafford Assizes. Surrounded by three tall warders, Hobday, who is only 21, was dwarfed in comparison. He bit his lips nervously" as he kept his eyes on the scarlet-clad forms of the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Avory, and Mr. Justice Branson. Fatal Stabbing In Home. This slim youth was found guilty at Stafford Assizes of the wilful murder of Charles William Fox, a 24-year-old metal worker, by stabbing him at his home in Moor Street, West Bromwich. There were also two other charges against him, of breaking and entering and stealing articles from the house of a Mr. Newton, who lived nearby, and of stealing a motor car. Sir Reginald Coventry, addressing the judges, on behalf of Hobday, said that the ground of the appeal was that evidence which tended to show that Hobday had committed the crime of burglary was improperly admitted, and in this case was quite irrelevant in the trial for murder. Hobday was allowed a seat in the vailed off balcony, Which, in the Appeal Court, serves as a dock. He sat with folded arms, closely following the legal arguments of his counsel. Sir Reginald said that the suggestion of the Crown at the trial was that the person who broke into the Newton’s house wanted to remove traces of the conflict. There were seven wounds in the back of the murdered man, and the knife or dagger which was used was found sticking up to the hilt in the last wound. Small Footprints in Garden. The assailant, whoever he was, had entered the house by cutting out a complete pane of glass. This pane was found shattered under the window, and footprints of a man’s shoe of exceptionally small size, such as Hobday wore, were found in the garden.

It was suggested that Hobday had gone to a lock-up garage, broken it open, and stolen a car. His finger piints were found on the starting handle of a car which was afterwards found overturned and abandoned on the Cheshire High Road. Sir Reginald submitted that it was unnecessary to have gone into the question ?f burglary at the trial. In this country juries were not allowed to know the past history of the accused person. Hobday had been asked many questions by the police and made a statement. Even the knife with which the murder was committed was placed before him, and lie was asked if it was his. He replied that it could be as he had been camping just before the murder in a field, and later in a wood. He admitted that lie was in the vicinity of the house at the time of the murder, and that pointwas never an issue. There was no evidence, said counsel, to prove that Hobday murdered Fox and then went calmly to Mr. Newton’s house, committed a burglary, washed the blood from, his hands and then repaired his coat with black cotton. Mr. W. G. Eavengey, who replied for the Crown, submitted that the evidence in regard to the burglary was relevant. There was deathly silence in Court while the three judges held a long consultation. . nobclaj, when asked to stand up, showed °t uneasiness. He glanced around the Court while he wiped his face with a gaily-coloured green and red handkerchief. Ihe Lord Chief Justice said that the earned judge who presided at the trial; had conducted the case with the most scrupulous fairness. Collapsed in Wife’s Arms. He said that the murdered man had been stabbed no less than seven times wnen he went downstairs to investigate a noise. He staggered upstairs, and collapsed into the arms of his wife. He died immediately. It seemed to the Court that the evidence concerning that burglary at the Newton’s house was material and relevant to the issue relating to the murder an hour or two before. That evidence was rightly admitted in the opinion of the Court, and, concluded Lord Hewart, This appeal should be dismissed. | Foi* a moment or two Hobday did noti seem to realise the sudden end of his appeal. He stood irresolute until the warders came nearer. Then he turned and disappeared behind the blue velvet curtain hiding the door by which he had entered.