§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the case of George Whitehead, who was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude on his own confession for arson at Hayes, near Uxbridge, in the month of October last, another man named Holden having been previously convicted and sentenced for that offence; whether at the trial of Whitehead evidence was not adduced to prove that he was of unsound mind, and could not have been present at the time 798 in the locality in question; and, whether any inquiry has been made into the sanity of the said George Whitehead since his conviction?
MR. BRUCE, in reply, said, the question had been and was still under consideration. The case was a very remarkable and extremely perplexing one. Whitehead accused himself of having set fire to a rick-yard; he was taken into custody, and committed for trial, and pleaded guilty upon being arrraigned at the Central Criminal Court. At the same assizes another man was charged with the same offence; he pleaded not guilty, but he was convicted, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. The learned Judge thereupon caused inquiries to be made as to Whitehead, and satisfied himself that he was perfectly sane. It was proved that he had been branded as a deserter, and that he himself had stated that he had never been near the spot where the fire occurred, and that he had acted as he had because he wanted to be sent abroad. The learned Judge, after consulting his Colleague, was of opinion that he should pass upon the second man a similar sentence of ten years' penal servitude. When the matter was brought to his (Mr. Bruce's) attention he consulted the learned Judge, who stated his belief that the man Whitehead had falsely accused himself in order that he might be transported. He added that he feared that if the man were discharged he would commit some great crime in order to get what he wanted, unless before he were discharged some change were wrought in him. If the man could be let out with safety to the public it would be his duty to see that he should be discharged.