“Birchill, an experienced criminal, would not break into the house while there was anybody moving about.  He would wait until the house was in darkness and the inmates asleep.  To do otherwise would increase enormously the risks of capture.  But the fact that the police found the body of the murdered man fully dressed shows that Sir Horace was murdered before he went to bed—­before Birchill broke into the house.  It shows conclusively that the murder was committed before dusk.  Your only alternatives to that conclusion are that the murdered man went to bed with his clothes on, or that the murderer broke into the house before Sir Horace had gone to bed and after killing Sir Horace went coolly round the house turning out the lights instead of fleeing in terror at his deed without even waiting to collect any booty.  I am sure that as reasonable men you will reject both these alternatives as absurd.  No evidence has been produced to show that anything has been stolen from the place.  It was evidently the theory of the prosecution that the prisoner, after shooting Sir Horace, had fled.  The evidence of Hill was that he arrived at Fanning’s flat in a state of great excitement.  His excitement would be consistent with his story of having discovered the body of a murdered man, but not consistent with the conduct of a cold-blooded calculating murderer who had broken into the house before Sir Horace had undressed for bed, had shot him, and had then gone round the house turning out the lights without having any apparent object in doing so.

“Gentlemen, I think you will admit that the crime must have been committed before dusk; before any lights were turned on.  I do not ask you to say that Hill is guilty.  The responsibility of saying what man other than the prisoner shot Sir Horace Fewbanks does not rest with you.  But I do urge you to ask yourselves whether, as between Hill and the prisoner, the probability of guilt is not on the side of this witness who lied to the coroner’s court about his movements on the night of the murder, and who lied to this court about the plan for the robbery of Riversbrook.  I have shown you that Hill was the master mind in planning the burglary, and, that being so, would not Birchill have consented to the postponement of the burglary if Hill had urged him to do so when he visited the flat after the unexpected return of the master of Riversbrook?  Is not the evidence of the witness Fanning, that Hill urged Birchill to carry out the burglary after Sir Horace had gone to sleep, more credible than Hill’s statement that he endeavoured to induce Birchill to abandon the proposed crime?  Knowing what you know of Hill’s past as a man who will rob his master, knowing that he attempted to deceive you with regard to this plan of Riversbrook in order that you might play your part in his cunning scheme, I urge you to ask yourselves whether it is not more probable that Hill fired the shot which killed Sir Horace Fewbanks than that the