*the female of the species*
alan munro
* October 7, 1984 - England*
On this Friday evening one Mrs Yianoulla Robertson reported the
discovery of her husband's battered body on the grounds of their home
at Hayling Island. The IBM executive was still alive when he was
rushed to Southampton General Hospital. Unfortunately the severe head
injuries that he suffered from eventually proved fatal and he died on
the 9th of October without having regained consciousness.
Hampshire CID, under the direction of Detective Chief Superintendent
John Wright commenced to resolve the puzzle by piecing together the
events immediately prior to the discovery of the battered Michael
Robertson. According to his Greek born wife he had gone out earlier to
pick up a take-away meal. The police came to believe that he may have
visited several of the public houses in the seafront area of Hayling
Island and put out a request for witnesses that may have seen him on
that evening.
Events moved so quickly that by the morning of the 11 October a
suspect was in custody and they were about to arrest the wife. She was
paraded before the Havant Magistrates's Court and charged with having
solicited Timothy John Funge-Smith to murder her husband. She was
remanded in custody. Funge-Smith appeared in the same court the next
day charged with the murder of Robertson for whom he had worked as a
gardener. He too was remanded in custody.
Funge-Smith went to trial in 1985 at the Winchester Crown Court. The
jury was treated to an interesting tale. When first interviewed by the
police he had invented an alibi aboiut having been drinking at a
public house at the time of the attack on his employer. Now a false
alibi always smacks of conciousness of guilt and knowing that one's
alibi has been exposed can be devastating so it came as no surprise
that Funge-Smith telephoned the murder incident room and confessed to
the crime when he learnt that the investigating officers had found the
murder weapon, which was a three foot piece of galvanized pipe, which
just happened to have his palm print on it. Oh yes, just to keep
matters quite tidy, David Stacy also appeared in the dock: he admitted
to attempting to pervert the course of justice by giving Funge-Smith
an alibi.
For his conviction Funge-Smith got the full weight of the law and was
sentenced to prison for life. One month later the Director of Public
Prosecutions announced that the case against Mrs Rpbertson would not
be pursued. As is customary they did not give any reasons for their
decision.
J. Alan Munro
jam...@terranet.ab.ca
Counsel for the Damned Time wounds all heels.
Shilling taker and He who laughs, lasts.
Convict baker.