The TV actor accused of battering to death war her

The TV actor accused of battering to death war hero’s wife,
Lady Brenda Cross, walked free from the Old Bailey today (Mon) after
the judge decided the evidence against him was ‘inherently weak.

‘
Grey-haired Freddie Bartman, 68, who played Doctor Simon Forrester
in the sixties soap Emergency Ward 10, blew kisses and waved in delight
at friends and relatives crowding the public gallery
Judge Brian Smedley QC used the detective story phrase ‘Who Dunnit’
before directing the jury to find him not guilty of murder and that
was the big question which remained as Mr Bartman left court.

The mystery may never be solved.

Or even why Lady Cross, the 74 year old wife of Air Chief Marshall
Sir Kenneth Cross, was so brutally murdered.

Even the prosecutor, Mr David Calvert-Smith, admitted that was no
known motive.

It was not a robbery which went wrong because none of
the valuable antiques in the shop, Anno Domini, in Pimlico Road, SW
London, had been stolen.

And there was no sexual motive because Lady Cross had not been
molested by her killer.

Mr Bartman refused to discuss the case after his acquittal.

But in a statement made through his solicitor Mr Michael Caplan
he revealed that he was ‘horrified and shocked at the attack.

‘
‘Since being charged Mr Bartman has had to live away from home
and his whole life has been disrupted,’ the statement continued.

‘He wishes to express his heartfelt thanks to his relatives and
many friends for their wonderful support during his traumatic
experience.

‘
Explaining why he had decided to stop the trial Judge Smedley
said: ‘Sometimes a case such as this is described as a ”Who
dunnit.

”
‘But,’ he continued: ‘We are not dealing with fiction, we (in
the courts) are dealing with the liberty of real people and it is
the wrong question.

The question is not who did it, but have the
prosecution proved, so that you are sure, that this accused did
it.

‘
The judge went on to remind the jury that in every criminal
trial it is for the prosecution ‘to establish the guilt of an
accused so that the jury are sure beyond reasonable doubt.

‘
Judge Smedley said the system ‘ensures, so far as human
fallibility can, that no one is unfairly convicted.

‘
Defence counsel, Mr John Bevan, had argued that the evidence
in the case ‘was so inherently weak that no jury could properly
convict’ his client.

Judge Smedley told the jury: ‘If there was one piece of
cogent evidence to link this accused (Bartman) with this crime
it would be for the jury to evaluate.

‘But there isn’t,’ the judge went on, ‘and I therefore
direct you to acquit him.

‘
The judge then said: ‘The risk of someone being wrongfully
convicted of murder with all of the consequences that follow
is to horrible to comptemplate
Lady Cross, who moved to London from Worlington, Suffolk, after
her husband became director of the British Red Cross, was murdered
on Sept 4, 1991, in the antiques shop.

The killer had battered her in two attacks with a pair of
valuable fire-irons which were used to support logs on open fires.

Injuries to her hands and arms indicated that the old lady
fought hard to save her life.

It was believed that she lost
consciousness during the first onslaught, but came too later.

Mr Calvert-Smith said she was then attacked again with the
deliberate intention of killing her to prevent identification
of her murderer.

In all she had suffered at least 30 to 40 blows with fists,
feet and weapons.

Lady Cross worked for Mr Bartman and his partner on three
half-days a week.

She was always driven to work by her husband, who retired
from the RAF in 1967.

The couple lived in Callow Street, Chelsea and have three
children.

‘She was a much loved woman with no known enemies,’ the
court heard.

‘Nobody could imagine how anyone would want to hurt her,
let alone kill her.

‘
No suspicion fell on Mr Bartman immediately after she was
found dead.

He had arrived at the shop after police had been
called and was described by a woman officer as visibly shaking,
appearing to be very upset and kept remarking: ‘She is dead
isn’t she?’
It was not until the following November that his house
in Brammerton Street, Chelsea, was searched.

He was later
charged with murder, an accusation he has consistently denied.

Judge Brian Smedley QC told the jury that he had reached
his decision to ask them to acquit Mr Bartman after listening
to legal arguments on Friday.

He explained that the case has changed in character since
it was opened to them on February 8, this year.

Dr Iain West, the Home Office pathologist, had been forced
by changed evidence to revise conclusions he originally made
about the case.

An Italian tie, which belonged to Mr Bartman and a label
of which was found near the dead body of Lady Cross, was another
important plank of the prosecution’s case.

But tests for bloodstains on the tie, which had not recently
been cleaned, proved negative and it was now clear that the
finding of the tie’s label was irrelevant.

It also became apparent from the evidence that the killer
would have had a considerable amount of blood on his clothes.

An eye witness could not be completely relied upon and
another witness had admitted that he might be wrong about
important time scale evidence.

The judge said that on the other hand Mr Bartman was a man
of good character who, according to people who had known him for
many years, had never shown any tendency to be violent.

He had been friendly with Lady Cross for 12 years and there
was no reason known why he should suddenly attack her in such a
horrifyingly brutal manner.

There was no link in the murder case to Mr Bartman and so he
had decided to ask the jury to acquit him.

ends