MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthenshire, W.)To ask Mr. Attorney-General whether, in the event of the Criminal Appeal Bill becoming law this Session, and seeing that the Bill gives prisoners increased security against punishment for wrongful conviction, he will consider whether it will be necessary in future to send indictments before a grand jury, and the question of introducing a Bill to put an end to the grand jury system.
(Answered by Sir John Walton.) The grand jury system provides a safeguard against the oppressive exercise of the right to prefer an indictment against an accused person. Its abolition would be a serious change in the administration of the criminal law, which would not be justified by the creation of a right of appeal in favour of persons who have already been tried and convicted. I do not see that any case for the proposed change has boon established.