MURDER TRIAL

Hokitika Guardian, 13 June 1932, Page 5

MURDER TRIAL

ACTRESS CHARGED LONDON NIGHT LIFE SEQUEL. (United Press Association—By Electric Xelegrapn.—Gopy right.) (Received this dav at b. 25 a.m) LONDON, June 11. .Crowds of fashionably dressed women queried outside the Westminster Police Court, dvlrenj; Mtb Elvira Barney was eh'Aigcd, with ithe murder of Michael .Stephen.. i ;

liie prosecuting counsel related how > neighbours, early in the. morning, bear Mrs, . Barney scream : “Get out of. my house. 1 hate you. I will shoot i t y«j'u” They then heiar.d shots and .cries of anguish, Mfs Barney exclaiming, “I love you so, chicken. Come back, and I’ll do anything you ask me.” A doctor found Barney kneel- . ing beside the body,, kissing it and paying, ’“I love you.” She was in evident distress. ill’s Barney’s statement to the police was that she quarrelled with Stephen about a woman’, and he attempted to take a revolver from her. Hie weapon went off during the struggle. dir P. Bairl Counsel, would .give evidence that it ivrts not impossible, but extremely, improbable, 'for. a wound -to have been caused uc» cidentally, or for deceased to have 'shot himself. A gun" expert would give evidence in support of the theory j that it was impossible for decaased to ! puM the trigger and inflict a wound of this character and position. The ! Grown was also tendering a second, j charge of shooting at Stephen with j intent to do grievous bodily harm on 19th. May. Accused was remanded till June 18tli.

A message from London on June 4th. said that on a. murder charge, Mrs Elvira Dolores Barney, an actress, and the daughter of Sir John Mullens, a retired stockbroker, has been arrested. She was remanded for a week. The charge is that of the murder of Michael Stephen, the son of a hank manager, who was found dead. He had been shot in the chest in Mrs Barney’s luxurious Kensington flat. The brotherof the deceased stated that . Michael Stephen’s debts had been paid frequently hy his father. He isaid .that Michael had denied living with "Mrs Barney, whose husband is in the United States. This tragedy is another ■result of the notorious London night life, in dance dens that are frequented by people who are on the fringe of society.