§ MR. DAVITTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what law of the realm a prison warder or official is authorised to fire upon and kill a prisoner for an attempt to escape from custody. And whether, if any existing law confers this authority upon prison officials, he will favour such a modification of it as will prevent the recurrence of such an event as the killing of the convict Carter at Dartmoor on Christmas Eve last.
§ MR. E. H. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any objection to lay upon the table a copy of the instructions regulating the conduct of officers in convict prisons in the event of a prisoner in their custody attempting to escape?
§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)I beg to ask the Attorney General upon what authority the warder acted in killing a convict named William Carter, whilst Carter was endeavouring to escape from Dartmoor prison on 24th December, 1896?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYThe authority to shoot an escaping felon is given by the common law. The rule, as stated by the received authorities and affirmed by successive opinions of the law officers of the Crown, is that if a felon flies from justice and is killed by an officer in pursuit, the homicide is justifiable, if he could not otherwise be overtaken. The right to use firearms in the last resort cannot, I think, be safely dispensed with; but I am considering whether any alterations can be made in regard to the weapons to be used or otherwise, so as to diminish as far as possible the chance of causing death. I may say in answer to the question of the hon. Member for Bethnal Green that I shall have no objection to laying on the table of the Mouse the standing orders applicable to these cases.
MR. T. M. HEALYasked whether anything in the nature of a trial took place beyond the coroner's inquest?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYNo, sir.
§ MR. JOSEPH A. PEASE (Northumberland, Tyneside)asked at what distance the convict was from the warder when the latter fired?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI believe that two warders fired at him—one at 20 and the other at 50 yards, in a thick fog.
MR. T. M. HEALYIf nothing in the nature of a trial takes place, who decides whether the homicide is justifiable or not?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYThe coroner's jury are the proper authority to decide the question.