§ MR. W. REDMOND (Fermanagh, N.)I wish to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the following:—"Sheffield, March 4.—John Hardwick and a man named Coalman were sentenced to penal servitude in 1879 for shooting a farmer and his son near Morpeth. The real culprits confessed, and Hardwich and Coalman were released on a ticket-of. leave;" and why these men were not "pardoned?"
§ MR. MATTHEWSI presume the hon. Member refers to the case of Hardwicke and Walford, who were released on licence in 1882. The then Secretary of State decided that while there was sufficient doubt as to the guilt of the prisoners to make it impossible to keep them in prison, it would not be right, in view of the extraordinary conflict of evidence in the case, to grant them a free pardon. This decision was reviewed and confirmed by the two succeeding Secretaries of State. I have also most carefully examined the whole of the facts, and find it impossible to come to any other conclusion than that arrived at by my three predecessors.
§ MR. W. REDMONDIs it not the fact that the real culprit confessed, and if it is, why were these men not pardoned?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe facts are not as the hon. Gentleman says.