Elvira Barney

Case name

Elvira Barney

Status

Elvira Barney was found not guilty on July 5, 1932.

The offence

Michael Scott Stephen was shot during an argument. Elvira Barney alleged that she threatened to commit suicide during the argument. The gun went off killing Michael Scott Stephen during a struggle in an attempt to get the gun away from Elvira Barney. A jury found Elvira Barney not guilty, although several points were not satisfactorily explained in court.

Background

Elvira Dolores Barney was a 27-year-old wealthy socialite. She had separated from her husband. She lived in a mews house in fashionable Knightsbridge. She moved to France to live. Four years later she was found dead in a Paris hotel bedroom.

People

Defendants

• Elvira Dolores Barney (also referred to as Elvira Barney and Elvira Mullens)

Deceased

• Michael Scott Stephen, aged 24

Medical officer

• John Hall Morton, Governor and Medical Officer

Defence

• Sir Patrick Hastings, who defended Elvira Barney at the Old Bailey

Judge

• Mr Justice Humphreys

Doctor

• Doctor Thomas Durrant

Police and officials

• Inspector Campion

Family members

• Sir John Mullens (Elvira’s father)
• Lady Mullens (Elvira’s mother)

Timeline

• 30 May 1932 — An intoxicated couple entered the West End night for a rather late supper at the Cafe de Paris, after which Elvira Barney and Michael Stephen returned home in the early hours of that morning.
• 31 May 1932 — Elvira Barney telephoned her doctor telling him that a “terrible accident” had happened.
• 3 June 1932 — Elvira Barney was arrested and charged with murder.
• 4 June 1932 — Elvira Barney was received on June 4th under mental and physical observation.
• 8 June 1932 — A report on June 8th was submitted giving a list of abrasions and bruises found after her reception to prison.
• 29 June 1932 — John Hall Morton’s Medical Officer’s Report was written at Holloway.
• 5 July 1932 — Elvira Barney was found not guilty.
• Four years later — Elvira Barney was found dead in a Paris hotel bedroom.
• After a typical long night — Marion Harris’s retirement and subsequent events were described as occurring not long after Elvira Barney’s death in Paris.
• Early 1944 — Marion Harris’s home in Rutland Street was razed to the ground by a V1 flying bomb.
• 23 April 1944 — Marion Harris fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in a New York hotel room; the room caught fire.
• 8 March 1941 — Ken “Snakehips” Johnson and the West Indian Orchestra were playing at the Cafe de Paris.
• 29 September 1965 — Lionel Blair introduced “The Kick” at the Cafe de Paris.

Investigation and arrest

Elvira Barney telephoned her doctor on 31 May 1932. When the doctor arrived, he found the body of 24 year old Michael Scott Stephen lying at the bottom of the stairs. The doctor could see that he had been shot at close range in the chest. The police were called. Beside the body they found a .32 Smith & Wesson revolver with two empty chambers.

Neighbours reported hearing a row between the couple shortly after the pair had arrived home following a party at the Cafe de Paris. The neighbours reported hearing Mrs Barney shout: “I will shoot you.” This was followed by one or more shots. Mrs Barney told the police that a quarrel had indeed happened between her and Michael Stephen. She stated that this was a common occurrence, a statement the neighbours agreed with. During the argument she threatened suicide if he left her. She stated that they struggled and that the gun had gone off accidentally as they fought. Elvira Barney was arrested and charged with murder on 3 June 1932.

At her trial, the defence included demonstration about the revolver’s mechanism; the gun had no safety catch and required a very light pull to fire.

Police entered the mews house and were described as shocked. Elvira Barney struck Inspector Campion in the face saying: “I will teach you to say you will put me in a cell, you vile swine,” after she made her statement.

After making her statement, the police allowed her to go back to her family home at nearby 6 Belgrave Square. She was accompanied by her parents, Sir John and Lady Mullens.

Trial

Elvira Barney was defended at the Old Bailey by Sir Patrick Hastings. The jury must have been impressed with Sir Patrick Hastings’ speech. Mr Justice Humphreys later called the judge’s address “the best he had ever heard,” in reference to the judge’s comments. The jury returned a not guilty verdict after two hours.

Sir Patrick Hastings insisted to the jury that the accidental death explanation was obvious, stating that the gun had no safety catch and that it took only a very light pull to fire.

A quoted reaction by Mr Justice Humphreys followed the verdict: “Most extraordinary! Apparently we should have given her a pat on the back!”

Sir Patrick Hastings described Elvira during the trial as: “a young woman with the rest of her life before her”.

Witness evidence and courtroom points included:

• A bullet hole in the bedroom wall of the house, but no bullet.
• Testimony from witnesses that Mrs Barney had, on another occasion, fired at Stephen in the street outside from an open window.
• It was thought that several points were not satisfactorily explained in court.

After the acquittal, Fleet Street reported that Elvira Mullens had shouted on the dance floor of the Cafe de Paris soon after the court case: “I am the one who shot her lover – so take a good look at me.”

Medical Officer’s Report (Holloway)

John Hall Morton, Governor and Medical Officer, provided a Medical Officer’s Report dated 29th June 1932, and wrote: “Sir I beg to state that the above named has been under mental and physical observation since her reception on June 4th. I have already submitted a report on June 8th giving a list of abrasions and bruises which I found on the prisoner after her reception to prison. She is in good health, has not shown any signs of physical illness, she has slept well, shown no symptoms of drug taking, and has increased one and a half pounds in weight since reception. PAST HISTORY She has had good health but has had to undergo an operation for middle-ear disease and she met with a serious accident some twelve months ago in which she broke her lower jaw and has since required special treatment for her teeth. MENTAL STATE I have examined her on various occasions, she has always conversed rationally, shown no signs of delusions or hallucinations and her conduct has been normal except on one or two occasions when she has shown hysterical manifestations. I am of the opinion that she is of sound mind and fit to plead the indictment. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant John Hall Morton Governor and Medical Officer”

Other details

After a party at the Cafe de Paris, neighbours had been awoken by a row between the couple. The neighbours reported hearing Barney crying: “Chicken, chicken, come back to me. I will do anything you want me to.”

Doctor Thomas Durrant arrived at 21 Williams Mews. On the stairs, shot in the chest at close range, lay Michael Stephen. Doctor Thomas Durrant found Barney continually repeating: “He wanted to see you to tell you it was only an accident.

A neighbour told the police: “There was a terrible barney at no. 21,”

Four years after the acquittal, Elvira Barney was found dead in a Paris hotel bedroom. She was discovered half on her bed, half off, with signs of haemorrhage around her mouth. She had returned to her room complaining that she felt cold and unwell after a typical long night of drinking and taking cocaine. Marion Harris retired from showbusiness and married a successful English theatrical agent called Leonard Urry not long after Elvira Barney’s death in Paris. In early 1944, their home in Rutland Street was razed to the ground by a V1 flying bomb. Marion Harris returned to America completely traumatised and never really recovered from seeing her home completely destroyed. On Sunday, April 23, 1944, alone in a New York hotel room, she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette. It set the room alight and it was never disclosed whether she died of burns or suffocation from the smoke.

Additional contextual material was included about the Cafe de Paris and other events, including:

• The Cafe de Paris remained open at the start of the second world war, attributed to rich and famous patrons influencing wartime licensing regulations.
• On Saturday 8th March 1941 Ken “Snakehips” Johnson and the West Indian Orchestra were playing at the Cafe de Paris as usual.
• A “Time magazine” report described bombs and the impact at the club; it stated: “Then the hit came. What had been a nightclub became a nightmare: heaps of wreckage crushing the heaps of dead and maimed, a shambles of silver slippers, broken magnums, torn sheet music, dented saxophones, smashed discs.”
• The report named Ballard Berkeley as a special constable who saw Ken “Snakehips” Johnson decapitated.
• It stated that Ballard Berkeley many years later became famous as the actor who played the major in Fawlty Towers.
• In 1929 British International Pictures released Piccadilly starring Anna May Wong; it described filming at the Cafe de Paris.
• It stated that in 1948, the Cafe de Paris was refurbished and seven years after the tragic death of Snakehips Johnson the doors reopened.
• It stated that on 29th September 1965 Lionel Blair introduced “The Kick”.