HC Deb 15 February 1881 vol 258 cc882-4
MR. JACOB BRIGHT (for Mr. C. M'LAREN)

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, with reference to the case of Thomas Beckett, tried on Saturday at the Leeds Assizes for the wilful murder of his wife by cutting her throat in his own house, his attention has been called to the prisoner's own statement, read in evidence, giving a minute account of the murder, and containing the words "I meant to do it—I had made up my mind to do it;" to the charge of the learned judge, who referred to the crime as one committed in cold blood; to the verdict of manslaughter; and to the sentence of four days' imprisonment, dating from the opening of the assizes, by virtue of which the prisoner was instantly discharged; whether he is aware of the strong sentiment of educated Englishwomen against the leniency with which crimes of violence against the person of women are habitually viewed by judges and magistrates; and, whether, if such a verdict and such a sentence as the above are, giving full weight to all the circumstances of the case, in accordance with the Law of England, he will consider the necessity of introducing a measure to amend that Law?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

Sir, the Secretary of State for the Home Department has no authority to interfere with or to review the acts of a Judge or of a jury in the discharge of their duties, or to censure thorn for undue leniency or severity in the punishment of crime, his functions being necessarily confined to giving advice to the Crown upon the exercise of its Prerogative of mercy. It would not, therefore, be proper for me to express a personal opinion as to the character of the sentence alluded to in this Question, it being a matter that does not come within the sphere of my duty. As to the second part of the Question, my hon. and learned Friend (Mr. C. M'Laren) expects too much from me when he asks me to vouch for— The strong sentiment of educated Englishwomen against the leniency with which crimes of violence against the person of women arc habitually viewed by judges and magistrates. I have a letter from the learned Judge who tried the case, in which he describes the conduct of this unfortunate woman. He says, that having committed adultery, which was condoned by her husband, she insisted upon returning to her paramour. On her way to him her husband remonstrated with her, and she thereupon stabbed him. Well, I do not think such conduct as that calls for much sympathy from the educated women of England. As far as I am aware, there is no defect in the law which requires amendment. In the case in question the law would have sanctioned any amount of severity of punishment which the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the Judge had pronounced; and I know no means by which juries can be compelled to deliver verdicts, or Judges to pass sentences, other than those that the dictates of their own judgments prescribe.