§ MR. MORRELL (Oxfordshire, Henley)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of a young man of the name of Quarter man, of Chinnor, in Oxfordshire, who was recently sentenced to one month's imprisonment by the petty sessions at Watlington, without having had the advantage of any legal defence; whether he is aware that the police failed to comply with the regulations of the Home Office by not asking him if he wished to be defended, although they knew that a short time before, when tried for the same offence, he had been so defended; and whether full inquiry will be made into all the circumstances of this case.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI have already made inquiry into the case, and in view of all the circumstances I have felt justified in advising a remission of the sentence; but the grounds on which I have done so do not in any way reflect on the police officer concerned in the case. Defendant appears to have had full opportunity of obtaining legal advice for his defence if he had wished to do so. I know of no rule requiring the police to ask defendants whether they wish to be defended. The police have instructions to give prisoners who wish to be defended every facility for communicating with their legal advisers.