MURDER TRIAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 8945, 20 December 1907, Page 5

MURDER TRIAL.

THE CAMDEN TOWN TRAGEDY

ACCUSED ACQUITTED,

Press Association- Electric Telegraph-Copyright. .{Received Last Night at midnight. LONDON, Yesterday. A crowd of teu thousand persons outside the Old Bailey acclaimed the acquittal of Robert Wood, the young artist accused of the murder of the woman Emily Dimmock at Camden Town.

Au alibi was proved.

Two witnesses testified that thoy saw Dimmock with a man who was not Wood after midnight on the night of tho crime.

Relatives of the accused mau , gave evidence that he slept at home, while a neighbour stated that he saw Wood enter his homo towards midnight. Westcott, a railway man testified that he himself was the mau whom McKowau a carman, mistook in St. Paul's road, towards 5 o'clock iv tho morning., for the prisoner. Wood gave evidence iv his owu behalf, and stated that he had lied, not wishing to be dragged iuto the case lost his friends should know that he associated with women like Dimmock.

Mr Justice Grautham, while summing up favourably to the prisoner, emphasised the fact that the evidence was entirely circumstantial. It was oue of the most remarkable criminal trials that had takeu place iv Englaud. aud was certainly the most remarkable of his time. ' There was no direct evidence against Wood; but the latter had led a double life, was untruthful, aud had endeavoured to get others to lie for him. He had lied throughout, his conduct giving point to such evidouco as there was agaiust him. The jury was abseut fifteen minutes. (It will be remembered that tho victim, some thus ago, was found murdered in tho house of a man with whom she had been liviug, aud Wood was placed ou trial for tiie crime, though he affirmed his ability to prove an alibi. It was this case iv which the police consulted a trance medium, who gave a most realistic description of the murder, aud stated that the murderer wasou his way to Australia. Possibly the trance medium was correct after all). i Fieceired Tu-dav. at 7.41 a.m.i LONDON, Last Night. Newspaper comments ou the Wood case are agreed ou the utterly squalid aspects of the case The interest chiefly centred iv the methods of detecting criminals. The prosecution iv this instance was based on doubtful identification. There was no suggestion of motive.

The Daily Telegraph states that the prosecution offered practically no evidence which was not either adequately rebutted or did not emanate from people whose character was open to grave reproach. The paper adds: Another unsolved mystery has beeu added to London's disquietiugly long list.