THE TRIALS OF two child murderers, Edwardson and Edwards, took
place at the Old Bailey last week. In each case the proceedings lasted two minutes. No drama, no titillation, no human stories, no horrible details, nothing except pleas of guilty. No wonder the newspapers were angry. The News of the World indeed was so incensed at being deprived of its livelihood that it was reduced to saying that there were 'far too many instances of men who came back [from prison] and got blood on their hands again,' which is, quite simply, untrue. There has been only one case in this cen- tury of a murderer committing another murder after release from prison, Walter Rowland, and even in his case there is some doubt whether he was guilty of the second murder. From the point of view of everyone else save the popular press, these trials were surely ideal. Nothing could be healthier than to take the glamour out of murder.
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