The Gentleman-Murderer
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5803100105 |
| Published date | 01 January 1958 |
| Date | 01 January 1958 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
30
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
she threw them on the rubbish heap at the bottom of the garden,
and
put the yellow ones (dexedrine) down the drain. She threw the bottles,
which were unlabelled, into the dustbin. All this had been done before
Inspector Gates had made his search of the house, and she had lied
about them, she said, because she didn't want to get her husband into
trouble.
TRIAL
This new statement so substantially added to the evidence against
them both that the Director of Public Prosecutions, in consultation
with the Attorney General, decided to prosecute and
both
were jointly
charged with the murder of the child, Terence, by administering the
poison seconal. The case for the Crown was conducted at Winchester
Assizes, to which they were committed together, by the Attorney
General, Sir Reginald Manningham Buller,
Q.c.,
and Mr. J. T.
Molony,
Q.c.
John Armstrong wasdefended by Mr. Malcolm Wright,
Q.C.; Janet Armstrong by Mr. Norman Skelhorn,
Q.c.,
and Mr.
Dudley Collard, and the case was heard by Mr. Justice Pilcher at the
Winchester Assizes on 3rd December, 1956.
There could be no doubt that one or
both
of
the accused was guilty
of the murder by poison of the child. There was a prima facie case
against both, even if one was merely a party to the commission of the
crime. In the end a joint trial resulted in each denying personal respon-
sibility but laying blame on the other. This was much to the advantage
of
the Crown case, for it left the jury to decide which witness to believe,
and Janet made much the better impression. John Armstrong proved a
bad witness: shifty, cunning, evasive and palpably untruthful in small
matters. The jury found him guilty after 43 minutes deliberation.
Conviction was followed by an appeal on behalf of John Armstrong,
but the Lord Chief Justice left no doubt as to his approval of the trial
and verdict and the appeal was disallowed.
This kind of poisoning is probably more common than would
appear.
It
is not difficult to give doses of tasteless or encapsuled
poisons sufficient to cause quiet sleep, coma and death, especially,
perhaps, in children and the sick or aged. We must be on the
"qui
vive"-or
should it be "qui
mort"-for
them.
The
Gentleman-Murderer*
ENGLAND of the '80s was an England troubled with unemploy-
ment where ambitious men were looking far afield for oppor-
*-W-e-a-re-indebted to the
Editor
of
the
£M.C:P:-Quurterly
for
his courtesy in
allowing us to print this interesting
case.-ED.
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