Sentenced to Death
FOX TO HANG FOR MATRICIDE Mystery Of Room 66 SENSATIONAL TRIAL IN LONDON FOUND guilty of the murder of his mother, after heavily insuring her life, Sidney Harry Fox was sentenced to death by a judge at the Old Bailey, London. The case, which was known as “The Mystery of Room 66,” provided the most sensational trial in recent years.
United JP.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright ■ Reed. 10.20 a.m. LONDON, Friday. Sidney Harry Fox was found guilty at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death for the murder of his mother In Room 66 of the Hotel Metropole at Margate. The trial was the most sensational for years, the scene of the crime being reconstructed in court, and expert witnesses giving evidence of the effects of strangulation, on the victim. The Crown’s case wa3 that Fox had insured his mother’s life for £3,000 the day before she was found dead in the hotel, and that he strangled her and then set fire to the room. The judge in summing up occupied two and a-quarter hours. Dealing with the conflict of medical testimony, he said it was impossible to offer the jury any assistance. A curious coincidence was that a brittle bone referred to the experts, was un-
■ broken. It was a strong point in fav- | our of Fox. It was unfortunate that the parts concerned could not have been better preserved. The judge referred to the extraordinary life of Fox in going from place to place without money, and declared that the financial straits of Fox had a very direct bearing on the case. The , insurance policies were the i | kernel of the case. Fox journeyed to London to take out the policies when he had barely sufficient money to lay his fare. 1 Undoubtedly if the mother died in t an accident before midnight on Octo- • her 23, Fox’s position was changed from despair and difficulty to one of l affluence. The jury was absent for one and a-half hours. i Asked if he had anything to say, . Fox replied: “I never murdered my i mother.” He reeled as he left the dock.
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Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 9
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354Sentenced to Death Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 9
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