HC Deb 09 August 1887 vol 318 cc1707-8
MR. SWETENHAM& C.) (Carnarvon,

asked the Secretary of State for the Homo Department, Whether he will give his attention to the following paragraph, which appeared in The Chester Courant, of the 3rd instant, relative to the convict Bevan, sentenced to death on Thursday last:— The trial of the murderer Bevan lasted longer than was expected, and so anxious were the authorities to remove him to Knutsford the same night, that immediately after the sentence was pronounced he was hurried into the Castle Yard and pushed into a cab, which was driven off at frantic haste in order to catch the last train. The arrival of the prisoner at the station was awaited by an immense crowd, through the midst of which he was rushed into the train, which was on the point of starting. At Knutsford a similar ordeal had to be gone through; whether he is aware that the prison at Knutsford is 25 miles distant from Chester, where the prisoners are tried, and that such prisoners are daily taken backwards and forwards to and from their trials; and, whether, as the Assize Court is situate under the same roof as the building which, until the Prisons Act came into force, was one of the county gaola, he will see if some arrangement cannot be made for the accommodation in that building of a limited number of prisoners during the Assizes, so as to avoid a repetition of the scenes referred to?

THE. SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)

I have obtained a Report from the Prison Commissioners on this matter. The instructions given to the principal warder were to bring the prisoner on to Knutsford by the last train if he could; if not, to detain him in the cells at Chester, where there are cells adjoining the Assize Court, in which prisoners can be, and are, if necessary, kept for the night. The warder thought there was time to catch the train, and took the prisoner to the cab which was waiting at the door. He was not pushed into the cab, but was, in the ordinary way, handcuffed to the warder. The railway officials at Chester had prevented people assembling to see the prisoner, and at Knutsford he was kept in the waiting room until the station was clear. There was a crowd outside; but it was dusk, and it is not likely that they could see the prisoner inside the cab between two warders. I am informed by the chaplain of the prison, who was present in Court, that, in his opinion, it was the most humane thing not to have left the prisoner at Chester that night, and that the warder acted with tact and judgment.