HC Deb 27 September 1909 vol 11 cc922-3
Mr. PICKERSGILL

asked whether David Talbot Woodruff, lately a prisoner in Maidstone Gaol, was entitled to be discharged on Saturday morning last, the 19th instant; whether, in the ordinary course, he would have been discharged at or about seven o'clock in the morning; under what authority and by whose order he was detained in prison until three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, when he was charged on a warrant with the murder of Mrs. Luard?

Mr. MASTERMAN

A prisoner is not entitled to his discharge till the end of the day on which his sentence expires. As a matter of convenience, prisoners are usually discharged early in the day, but circumstances often occur which make it desirable to detain a prisoner till a later hour. The fact that in Woodruff's case there was a warrant for his arrest on a charge of murder was a fully sufficient reason for detaining him till there was an opportunity of executing it. The prison authorities in this matter acted at the request of the police responsible for the execution of the warrant.

Mr. T. M. HEALY

May I ask the hon. Gentleman if he has conveyed to the magistrates the general approval that is felt at their action in at once discharging this man from custody?