SETTLED OUT OF COURT

Further inquiry into the areas occupied by bar and bench examines the case of Lonsdale Walsh, imprisoned for life after being convicted for the murder of his business competitor Barnwell. Money buys his escape, enables him to kidnap a judge, two barristers, the witnesses who testified at his trial and Barnwell's widow, Jo, for a rehearing which Walsh is sure will prove he was committed on perjured evidence. His stratagem exposes flaws not revealed originally, captures Mr. Justice Halliday's curiosity and criticism of the standards of advocacy, and provides a means to declare Walsh innocent. And a snapper ending reverses the field again. A play on the single truth -- but not the full consequences -- is ingenious. For fanciers of the convolutions of English trial law.