§ MR. LAWSON (St. Pancras, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the case of Jane Nicholls, who in May, 1886, was tried at Taunton for the murder of her infant child, and, being convicted of manslaughter only, was sentenced to 20 years' penal servitude, whether, in June, 1887, a petition was presented to him asking for remission of the sentence, and whether Mr. Justice Day, who tried the case, recommended the immediate release of the convict; and, if so, if he could explain to the House why he declined, in his answer to the petition, to interfere with the sentence; whether, in January, 1888, he received a second petition, to which he made the same answer without referring to the learned Judge; and if, under the circumstances, he will reconsider his decision?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe communications between Judges and the Home Office in criminal cases are confidential, and I do not feel at liberty to state the character and effect of Mr. Justice Day's observations on the case of Jane Nicholls. It was a case in which the jury took a merciful view of the offence in finding a verdict of manslaughter only. I received two petitions in favour of the prisoner at the dates named. It would have been contrary to all precedent to discharge the prisoner so soon after a sentence of 20 years' penal servitude had 247 been passed; and the facts proved at the trial were not such as, in my judgment, could justify such a course. The time has not yet come when I shall feel able to advise any remission of the sentence.