HC Deb 23 August 1894 vol 29 cc358-9
MR. KEIR-HARDIE

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the statement in The Weekly Dispatch for 19th August of two Post Office officials who appealed to some police not to abuse a prisoner whom they were conveying to the lock-up; whether on going to Clerkenwell Police Station to lodge a complaint against the police they were charged with attempting to rescue the prisoner; whether on this charge coming before the Magistrate one of the accused was dismissed and the other bound over to keep the peace for three months; and whether he will cause a thorough investigation to be made into all the circumstances of the case?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL, North Beds.)

(who replied) said: The Secretary of State has made inquiry into this matter, and is informed that the two persons to whom the question refers had interfered with the police in the execution of their duty when they were engaged with a drunken prisoner. Their prisoner was so violent that it required four constables to take him to the police station, and, after getting there, he drew a knife and threatened to stab one of the officers. The two persons in question, one of whom is named C. J. Strudwick, followed with a large crowd to the police station, and the constables, after lodging their prisoners inside the station, went out and arrested them. A third person, a woman, who had stoned the police on their way to the station, was arrested at the same time. The Magistrates discharged one person, named Samuel, but convicted the woman, and also convicted Strudwick, whom he bound over in the sum of £5 to keep the peace for three months. The Magistrate remarked that he could not overlook the fact that Strudwick seized hold of the constable while he was struggling with the prisoner, and advised him not to interfere with the police in the execution of their duty.

MR. J. ROWLANDS (Finsbury, E.)

Is it not the fact that Strudwick and his colleague went into the station to complain of the conduct of the police and were there arrested?

MR. GEORGE RUSSELL

That is not my information.

MR. J. ROWLANDS

Will the hon. Gentleman kindly inquire into that?

MR. GEORGE RUSSELL

Yes, I will.