BY REASON OF DOUBT: The Belshaw Case

Hardback. On December 3, 1980, Professor Cyril Belshaw, world-renowned anthropologist at the University of British Columbia, was put on trial in the medieval city of Aigle, Switzerland, for the murder of his wife Betty. Twenty-one months earlier her body had been discovered wrapped in rubbish bags. It had been jettisoned down a slope in the Swiss Alps. Two months before that, Belshaw had reported her mysterious disappearance in Paris. The book details his search for his wife, the investigation by the Swiss police (whose procedures differ markedly from those familiar to Canadians) and the striking consequences of Belshaw's falsification of his wife's dental records. It also covers the Belshaw's life together, both in Vancouver and during their travels abroad. The book reaches its highpopint in the extraordinary three-day trial which took place amidst a blaze of publicity both in Europe and in Canada. The verdict was an acquittal on the central charge. However, the judgement also spoke of Belshaw having incurred on himself by his attidude "an enormous presumption of guilt" and of acquittal by reason of "a very light doubt". Illus. + Map. 208pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly browned pp. o/w Vg. in sunned G++ dw.