REMARKABLE AFFAIR AT LITTLE BOWDEN.
Some extraordinary evidence was given at the inquest on the body of a
child named George Victor Illingworth, of Bath-street, Little Bowden.
—Mr. and Mrs. Townend, who kept the child, tried to delude the
coroner and jury into the idea that it was theirs, but it subsequently
transpired that the child belonged to Townend's sister-in-law, who lives
at Desborough.
—Dr. Crisp deposed to making a post-mortem examination on the child.
He found all the organs healthy except the brain. There was a quantity
of blood-stained fluid over the brain, which he would expect to find in
the case of a child suffering from convulsions. There was no evidence of
neglect, and he attributed death to convulsions.
—The Coroner, in summing up, said that he could not pass over the
fact that it had been obviously the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Townend to
make out that the child was theirs.
—The jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes, but added
that Townend was deserving of censure for making false statements to the
police.
—The Coroner informed
Townend of
the verdict, and communicated the jury's rider, with which he said he
thoroughly agreed. Addressing Townend, he said that the latter could not
be prosecuted for perjury, as when put upon his oath in Court he told
the truth, but his conduct had to some extent met with its reward, as
because of it publicity had been given to the case which it would not
otherwise have had. Naturally, when the police found that something was
being concealed, they looked upon the whole case with suspicion, and if
there had been any doubt about the cause of the death of the child,
Townend might have found himself in a serious position.
Northampton Mercury, Friday 03 October 1902