GRAVE INSULTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19769, 17 February 1927, Page 7

GRAVE INSULTS

THE NORTHCLIFFE CASE JUDGE CONDEMNS MISS OWEN EVIDENCE ABSOLUTELY FALSE LONDON, Feb. 15. In dismissing the application of Miss Owen for a rehearing in the Northcliffe will case, Mr Justice Astbury said: “She is an extremely dangerous woman. It is due to those concerned that my view concerning her should be recorded.’ ’ Miss Owen, it is alleged, only withdrew from the previous hearing on an understanding from her then counsel, Mr Jowitt, K.C., that Lord Rothermere agreed to pay the costs and contribute to charities named by her. She is at present represented by Mr Upjohn, K.C., who had a sharp exchange with the Judge in connection with the calling of Jowitt as a witness. Sir John Simon asked the Judge to vindicate Lord Rothermere from the unfounded charge that no undertaking whatsoever had been entered into. Sir Patrick Hastings endorsed this statement. There was also a grave and baseless charge against Jowitt, he said. Mr Justice Astbury, in giving judgment, said that the case contained some of the most disgraceful innuendos it had ever been his misfortune to listen to. Everyone concerned in it had been gravely insulted. Mr Jowitt’s denial carried the utmost conviction. He spoke the truth entirely and literally. On the other hand, Miss Owen’s evidence was absolutely false.