§ MR. LEVY (Leicestershire, Loughborough)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the police sergeant responsible for the handcuffing of two men at Hinckley on 27th February, when arrested for non-payment of fines and costs incurred under the Vaccination Acts, is the same sergeant who, on 6th January, struck a man on the head with a stick, thereby cutting his head open and rendering him unconscious, because he refused to allow the sergeant to examine the bag he was carrying; whether complaints have been made to the Home Office or to the Chief Constable of Leicestershire respecting the conduct of this officer; and what steps will be taken to prevent a recurrence of such conduct on his part.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) I have made inquiries and am informed that the sergeant to whom the latter part of the Question refers did use handcuff's in making an arrest early in the morning of 27th February, but had nothing to do with handcuffing the two men indicated in the Question. No complaint has been made to the Home Office as to the affair mentioned in the latter part of the Question, but the chief constable of Leicestershire informs me that on the 30th December the sergeant 55 in question did inflict considerable injury on a man whom he mistook for a burglar. His conduct on that occasion was inquired into at the time and was dealt with by the Chief Constable. The injured man was compensated.