RETURN YOUR VERDICT Some Studies in Australian Murder

Hardback. Foreword by Sir John Barry. The Kalgoorlie murders of 1926 when the bodies of two policemen who had been hunting gold-thieves were found down a disused mineshaft; the Passionate parson, acquitted on a charge of poisoning his wife; the Snowy Rowles case, the Lavers mystery, and the Sundown murders, all set in the hot outback; the Pyjama Girl; the fantastic affair of T.J. Ley who was at one time Minister of Justice in New South Wales and, after emigrating to England leaving a trail of ugly rumours behind him, was eventually convicted for the chalk-pits murder - these are some of the famous and fascinating cases which the author discusses. A Judge of the New South Wales District Court and Chairman of Quarter Sessions, the author of course examines his cases from the viewpoint of an expert in the law, and laymen and lawyers alike will find exceptionally interesting the important and sometimes controversial subjects which the trials bring up; the proper procedure for the police in obtaining confessions; the McNaghten Rules and the extremely difficult problem of insanity as a defence; the anomalies that arose when the Homicide Act of 1957 was enacted in Great Britain to try to codify varying degrees of culpability. Illustrated with many photographs associated with the 10 murder cases featured. An Appendix based on information supplied by Dr John McGeorge gives extraordinary facts about the inter-marriage of mental defectives. Illus. + Appendices. 204pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly browned pp. o/w Vg+ in Vg+ pcdw.