The Assizes
| Date | 01 April 1953 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835301700202 |
| Published date | 01 April 1953 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Assizes
KILLING
A
HOUSEBREAKER
BY
AN AUTOMATIC
DEVICE
R. v. Taylor
SECTION 31 of
the
Offences Against
the
Person Act,
1861, prohibits
the
setting of spring guns
and
other
devices calculated
to
destroy
human
life or cause grievous
bodily harm,
but
contains
an
important
proviso which per-
mits such contrivances to be set from sunset to sunrise
within a dwelling for
the
protection thereof.
When
a
statute
contains such aclause
it
is generally
accepted
that
persons seeking
to
take
advantage of
the
exception
must
perforce keep strictly within
its
terms. This
was exemplified in R. v. Taylor, where a conviction for man-
slaughter was returned
by
the
jury
against aperson who
had
set aspring
gun
in his home
and
in
the
result killed a
housebreaker.
The
accused, who worked
at
agarage in Chatham, was
aperson
with
an
ingenious
turn
of mind. When his cottage,
which was frequently left unattended,
had
been twice
entered
and
property
stolen from
it
within aperiod of two
months, he
hit
upon
an
idea for protection
by
the
use of an
automatic device. He converted
the
trunk-from
which
£30 of his money
had
been previously
stolen-into
aspring
gun. Two parallel lengths of water piping were mounted
upon ametal frame
and
placed inside
the
trunk,
and
then
by
the
provision of springs, hammers, firing pins
and
cartridges,
the
device was cocked
and
left loaded to await
disturbance
by
an intruder.
Approximately afortnight later,
at
about
11.40 a.m.
on
the
10th
July,
1952, one Noah Eastwood, aperson of
bad
character, forced an
entry
into
the
house
and
eventually
found his
way
to
the
trunk,
which he forced open. There-
upon
the
trap
exploded
with
such effect
that
Eastwood
received
mortal
injuries
and
died
ten
days later.
It
appeared from
the
defendant's
statement
that
he
set
the
gun
soon
after
making it
and
thereafter allowed
it
to remain so set.
It
thus
followed
that
by
continuing
it
120
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