HC Deb 04 August 1903 vol 126 cc1449-50
MR. O'SHAUGHNESSY (Limerick, W.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a memorial was presented to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in reference to the case of Andrew Moore, who was convicted at the Cork Spring Assizes, 1903, for the murder of the Rev. Mr. Bell and sentenced to be hanged, signed by the doctors who examined the body of the deceased and who gave evidence at the trial, and who stated in the memorial that it was impossible for them to say that the wounds on deceased were ante mortem; and, if so, whether he will lay the case before the Lord Lieutenant with a view to the release of Moore, whose sentence was commuted to penal servitude.

MR. WYNDHAM

I replied to a Question on this subject on the 29th June.† So far from the doctors having declared that they were unable to say whether the wound was ante mortem or not they, in their evidence, most distinctly and emphatically stated that it was their clear opinion that the wound must have been inflicted during the lifetime of the deceased. The Lord Lieutenant, who has had the case before him, has not seen his way to exercise the Royal prerogative in the manner suggested.