HC Deb 19 October 1899 vol 77 cc240-1
SIR CHARLES CAMERON (Glasgow, Bridgeton)

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the fact that the charges of embezzling various sums amounting to £50,000, to which James Colquhoun pled guilty, and with respect to which, on the 4th inst., he was sentenced by Lord Trayner to five years' penal servitude, covered all the cases of apparent embezzlement brought to the knowledge of the Public Prosecutor up to the date of his trial; whether, since the sentence was pronounced upon him, any fresh cases of apparent embezzlement have come to light; and whether, in case of further evidence transpiring during Colquhoun's confinement, pointing to his criminal responsibility in connection with the disappearance of any sums comprised in the balance of nearly £100,000 for which his firm is civilly responsible, and which is not covered by the charges in respect of which he has been sentenced, any reason exists to prevent his being brought to trial on fresh charges.

*THE LORD ADVOCATE (MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAY,) Buteshire

In answer to the first paragraph of the question, it is the fact that the charges to which James Colquhoun pled guilty covered so substantially the case of alleged embezzlement that Crown counsel felt justified in accepting the plea. The answer to the second paragraph is in the negative. In answer to the third paragraph, it would be impossible, in accordance with the practice of the administration of the Criminal Law in Scotland where a prisoner had pled guilty to embezzlement of a sum so substantial as that in question, to re-try him in respect of after transpiring charges upon views of the inadequacy of the sentence pronounced.

*SIR CHARLES CAMERON

Was any arrangement come to not to re-try him on subsequently-transpiring charges?

*MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAY

The arrangement, so far as an arrangement is concerned, had reference merely to charges up to that date; but, as I say, it would be entirely against the practice of criminal administration in Scotland to re-try a person upon other charges of the same sort transpiring afterwards.