Companion website for
COMPARATIVE MEDIA LAW & ETHICS
by TIM CROOK
to be published by Routledge on 15th December 2009
For details of the book, please visit Routledge.
Author's profile at Goldsmiths, University of London
The Problems with the conviction and death sentence of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen 1910 Background of prejudice: Infidelity, Older man- younger lover; cross-dressing and deception in flight from justice. Wanted for Murder and Mutilation poster produced by Scotland Yard and pre-judgement of inquest jury in naming them as the murderers. Sensationalist coverage of ‘murder hunt’ in competitive popular media. Marconi radio reports to the Daily Mail of the captain of the SS Montrose. He observed them posing as Mr and Master Robinson, and claimed to have seen Dr Crippen armed with a gun when a gust of wind blew up his coat on deck. False media coverage that Dr. Crippen had confessed to the murder in Newfoundland.
‘Anything more calculated to prejudice the defence could not be imagined’.- said Mr Justice Darling.Corruption and incompetence of his solicitor Arthur Newton. His client’s fees were based on cheque-book journalism and the promise of an eve of execution confession. His priority was to make a profit and not use the media money to buy the best legal representation. Newton was suspended for involvement in a fake confession before his execution. Dr Crippen had consistently denied murdering his wife. Defence solicitor Arthur Newton wrongly advised his client to avoid fighting extradition and return to England, because it was not in Newton’s best financial interests. There was a likelihood both Crippen and Le Neve would have resisted extradition because of the circumstantial nature of the case. Modern day DNA forensic evidence indicates the ‘victim’s remains in the cellar of Hilldrop Crescent were not those of Cora Crippen and were of a man; not a woman. The contemporary forensic evidence was presented with a degree of scientific certainty that would now be considered unreliable e.g. evidence of a scar on torso (consistent with Mrs Cora Crippen) Hyoscin being evidence of poisoning and foul play. Suppression of prosecution/state evidence from the defence: letters purporting to be from Mrs Crippen to her husband at Pentonville Prison. 1 survived and is in the National Archives. The other was given to Home Secretary Winston Churchill and lost. This could have elicited evidence that she was still alive. ‘Belle Elmore’, her stage name was ‘registered as living with Cora’s sister in New York. Records show that the same woman entered the US through Ellis Island from Bermuda in 1910 shortly after Mrs Crippen disappeared. Non disclosure to defence that Director of Public Prosecutions had paid $450 for the US private detective agency, Pinkertons, to bring Mrs Cora Crippen’s friend, Bruce Miller, from Chicago to deny being the alleged victim’s lover. Non disclosure to defence of evidence that a woman bearing Mrs Crippen’s description had tried to withdraw savings and arrange for the removal of large quantities of furniture and belongings from Hilldrop Crescent before her disappearance. Only remaining key prosecution evidence is that a pyjama top linked to Dr. Crippen was found buried with the human remains. Who was the human being buried there? How did a pyjama jacket probably belonging to him get there? A key unanswered question.
