Bertie Leonard Stone

Bertie Leonard Stone died at his cottage on Thursday 20 March 1947 during a row with his wife.

She said that he came at her and she threw a pan at him which missed and that he slipped and fell and hit his head on some furniture.

Bertie Stone was a labourer.

His wife said that Bertie Stone got into a violent temper after she suggested leaving some rabbit wires that he had asked her to move and had struck her with his fist. She said that he was coming at her again and that she flung a small enamel saucepan at him in which she had prepared his breakfast, but that he dodged it and slipped on the floor and hit his head on the edge of a chair.

The pathologist that examined his body said that his death was due to subdural haemorrhage due to a minute fracture of the left temporal bone and that his injuries could not have been caused by the saucepan, but were consistent with falling against the edge of the chair.

Papers were initially sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions to make a charge, but they later announced that the evidence was insufficient to justify a major charge.

At his inquest on 16 April 1947, the coroner returned a verdict of death by misadventure after the coroner told the jury that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a verdict of manslaughter.