§ MR. SHIRLEY (Yorkshire, W.R., Doncaster)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will cause inquiry to be made into the merits of what has been called "the Poole Perjury Case," in which a detective named Williams was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude; and, whether he is aware that considerable doubt exists in the minds of a large number of persons (including many members of the legal profession) as to whether Williams ought to have been convicted?
THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. CHILDERS) (Edinburgh, S.)In reply to my hon. Friend, I have to say that I presume, from the quantity of applications that have been addressed to the Home Office in this prisoner's behalf, that a considerable number of persons are of opinion that he has been improperly convicted. However, after a most careful inquiry into the merits of the case, I can find no reason which would justify me in departing from the decision arrived at by my two Predecessors in Office—namely, that this was not a case in which to advise any interference with the sentence.