MR. BANKS STANHOPEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it is the case that Thomas Richardson, who was convicted at the Winter Assizes at Lincoln of the wilful murder of Police Constable M'Brinn, there being, in the opinion of the Judge, no extenuating circumstances And no provocation, had his punishment of death commuted to penal servitude, the presiding Judge not having been consulted by the Home Secretary? If it is the case that the Chief Constable for Lincolnshire then pointed out to the Quarter Sessions and to the Home Secretary that danger of this courses of proceeding, and the probability of future attacks on the Police; and if it is the case that the Chief Constable has lately officially informed the Home Secretary that a Police Constable has again been fired at?
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, he felt it necessary to answer a question as to the remission of a capital punishment with great reserve it was obviously in- 1326 convenient, and much to be deprecated, that it should be made the subject of discussion in that House, The outline of the case was as follows:—A poacher returning at night with a loaded gun was challenged by a policeman, at whom he suddenly discharged one barrel, and then, throwing down the gun with one barrel loaded, made off. At the end of a fortnight the policeman died from the effects of the wound. It was clear that this was not a case of premeditation, and it was doubtful whether the person who fired the gun anticipated the fatal effects which ensued, Richardson returned to his work, and did not attempt any concealment. After conviction strong representations were made to him on behalf of the prisoner. There was a petition for a remission of the sentence from Boston, in the neigbourhood of the place where the affair occurred, stating that the act was not one of deliberate murder, and that Richardson had resided at Wyberton for twenty years, and was generally regarded as a very industrious man. That petition was signed by the Rector of Wyberton, by several of the magistrates, including the committing magistrate, and upwards of 200 persons, mostly tradesmen in the neighbourhood. Soon after another petition to the same effect was received from Lincoln, with upwards of fifty signatures, among which were the names of several magistrates. There was no dispute as to the facts of the case, and, therefore, no necessity for any reference to the Judge. In the exercise of his discretion he thought it desirable to recommend Her Majesty to commute the capital sentence to one of penal servitude for life. About a month after the respite had been granted the chief constable transmitted to him by desire of the magistrates his quarterly report, in which he set forth the disadvantages which in his opinion would accrue from the commutation of the sentence, and he had subsequently sent a letter to the Home Office calling attention to the fact that a stone had been thrown and a gun loaded with shot fired through the window of the dwelling of a police constable. No damage, however, had been done to the man, and it did not appear that there was any intention of taking his life.