§ MR. MILVAIN (Durham)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether an inquiry has been made by or on behalf of the Solicitor to the Treasury into the confession of a man who alleges that he and another committed a burglary at Edlingham Vicarage, in the County of Northumberland, for which offence two other men were convicted at the Northumberland Winter Assizes in the year 1879, and have been ever since suffering penal servitude; whether any Report has been made by the Solicitor to the Treasury in respect of such confession; if so, whether such Report supports the theory of the truth of the confession and the innocence of the prisoners; and, has he taken any, or or what steps does he propose to take, in consequence of such Report?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)There has been a careful inquiry and Report made on the subject of the burglary at Edlingham Vicarage in the year 1879, of which two men were convicted in that year. The circumstances that have been elicited are most singular and unprecedented. After careful consideration I have directed criminal proceedings to be taken against two other men; and it would, therefore, be improper that I should express any opinion on the 1151 matter. In the meanwhile, and pending the issue of these proceedings, I have directed that the two men who were convicted in 1879 should be released on licence.