The Sir Harry Oakes Murder

The murder of Sir Harry Oakes made news headlines in the middle of the second world war in 1943 this was big news not only in the colony but all over the world. There are many theories around the death of Sir Harry Oakes but this thread will focus on strange coincidences around the murder On July 7, 1943 Sir Harry Oakes hosted a dinner party and after the dinner party his close friend Harold Christie told the watchmen and the servants that they can go home. Sir Harry Oakes had 4 stabs to the head, his body was set on fire and the body was covered in feathers from a gutted pillow. Harold Christie was sleeping two doors down from sir Harry Oakes When Harold Christie “discovered” his friend’s body the next day he said that he tried to revive him (a man that was clearly dead,burnt and who's bowels had left his body) and give him water. H.C. First called his brother and the duke of Windsor instead of local authorities. The duke then called 2 Miami detectives in (which were close friends of his) and said “he wished to confirm the details of a suicide” please keep in mind S.H.O. Was hit in the head with a sharp object and blood patterns show Oakes was lying face down when he suffered the blows to his skull. Alfred De Marigny who was the son in law of S.H.O. was accused of the murder and went on trial with A.F. Adderley as the counsel for the crown

Colonel R.A. Erskine Lindop, the police commissioner at the time refused to charge De Marigny with murder so the duke transferred him to Trinidad and kept him The throughout the trial which made him unable to testify. Eight years later Erskine Lindop told journalist Etienne Dupuch that one of the suspects in the case broke down in the cross examination and said that this suspect continue to move about in high society in Nassau De marigny was later acquitted after the detectives that were hired by the Duke of Windsor were suspected of fabricating evidence against him it was also well known that the Duke of Windsor did not like de marigny. De Marigny later wrote a book and said “in my mind there is no doubt whatsoever that Harold Christie should have been tried and hung for the murder of Sir harry Oakes. While hired hands acted for him it was Christie who ordered the The fatal act committed that turbulent night in Nassau Fast forward seven years later in 1950 on April 8th Betty Renner came to Nassau to investigate the murder which took. On April 19th she was found dead at the bottom of a well in Nassau