Hill might be speaking the truth and the
prisoner might be innocent though the presumption would be, if Hill's
evidence were truthful in every detail, that the prisoner was guilty.
Fanning's evidence might be true as far as it went, but it would not in
itself prove that the prisoner was innocent. Hill had admitted that he
had drawn the plan of Riversbrook to assist Birchill to commit burglary.
It was for the jury to determine for themselves whether he had been
terrorised into drawing the plan for Birchill or whether he was the
instigator of the burglary.
The defence had contended that Hill had drawn the plan at his leisure
at a time when he had access to a special quality of paper supplied to
his master. If that were so, Hill's version of how he came to draw the
plan was deliberately false and had been concocted for the purpose of
exculpating himself. But they would not be justified in dismissing
Hill's evidence entirely from their minds because they were satisfied
he had perjured himself with regard to the plan. They would be
justified, however, in viewing the rest of his evidence with some
degree of distrust. Counsel for the defence had made an ingenious use
of the facts that the body of the victim was fully dressed when
discovered and that none of the electric lights in the house were
burning.
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