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38 Police J. 61 (1965)
The Burton Atrocity

handle is hein.journals/policejl38 and id is 63 raw text is: D. M. BROCKWELL Formerly Assistant Commissioner (C.L D.) Northern Rhodesia Police This account of the successful investigation of a murder committed in circumstances of mass violence is surely a classic of police science. THE BURTON ATROCITY At 3 a.m. on May 16, 1960, Ndola Hospital telephoned to say that Mrs. Lilian Burton had passed away. She had been on the brink of death for eight days while fighting courageously for her life. She died, primarily, from toxaemia caused by burns, and in spite of mental and physical anguish, she succumbed without feelings of bitterness. Over 600 people of all races attended her burial, after the catafalque lay for two days in the Anglican Pro-Cathedral, Ndola. It was now a case of murder. The Crime At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 8, Mrs. Burton, returning home to Kaniki Plots from Ndola, was ambushed in her Morris Traveller car by a mob, and forced to a standstill near a five-mile peg on the Mufulira road. Windows and windscreen were smashed and petrol was then splashed over Mrs. Burton and ignited. Her two daughters, aged 12 and five years, the latter with minor burns, escaped from the rear seat. The driver's door locked, Mrs. Burton miraculously rolled away from the burning inferno through the nearside door to the ground, where she writhed-hair and clothes alight. While Mrs. Burton and her daughters were brutally assaulted by the mob, their pet spaniel was burnt alive in the car. After being ordered into the adjoining bush, a passing motorist took them to Ndola Hospital for admission at 1.50 p.m. Wearing only shoes and brassiere, Mrs. Burton was in an extreme- ly shocked state, suffering from 75 per cent. burns, mostly third degree, and fairly extensive bruising. Her condition was grave. Mob Violence Events on the Copperbelt during this period formed a pattern of lawlessness which had been on the increase for some time, and Sunday's disorders were the culmination, 12 cars having been stoned on both Copperbelt roads in approaches to Ndola, shattering windows and injuring occupants. Frequent stonings and interference with police recording teams covering public meetings in Ndola district had occurred previously. Consequently an application for a permit to convene a meeting on Sunday, May 8, was refused by the regulating officer under the February 1965 61

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