§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any and, if so, what, compensation will be made to Adolf Beck, who in 1895 was tried, convicted, and sentenced to seven years penal servitude at the Old Bailey for a crime of which his innocence has now been conclusively established, and who recently has been tried and convicted for a crime of which his innocence has been established in the interval between conviction and sentence, both convictions having been 720 obtained on evidence of Beck's identity, which was mistaken; and what other steps will be taken to make some reparation to this man in addition to the conferring on him of a pardon for crimes he never committed.
*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERSDOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine'sI am in communication with the Treasury with regard to the grant of a sum of money—the amount of which I cannot yet state—to Mr. Adolf Beck as compensation, if it can be so called, for his two mistaken convictions. He has already received from the King His Majesty's free pardon, the effect of which is much greater than the word "pardon" in its ordinary sense would imply. In law a free pardon entirely wipes out the conviction and "obliterates every stain" which the law attaches to the alleged offence.