§ Mr. SILVERMAN(by Private Notice) asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that in the case of Rex v. Bryant the Court of Criminal Appeal refused to admit certain additional evidence on the ground that it could have been produced at the original trial; that at the original trial the defence was in the hands of junior counsel only whereas the prosecution was undertaken by the Solicitor-General, another King's Counsel and junior counsel; and whether, as the Attorney-General has now refused his fiat for a further appeal, he is satisfied that the accused woman was properly represented and the requirements of the Poor Prisoners Defence Acts adequately complied with?
§ Sir J. SIMONI think this question should more appropriately have been addressed to the Attorney-General. I have consulted my hon. and learned Friend and am informed by him that the answer to all parts of the question is in the affirmative.
§ Mr. SILVERMANIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is considerable public uneasiness about this case, and does he not think that when a case of such difficulty as to justify a prosecution by a Law Officer in person is defended by junior counsel only, there is a considerable danger of a miscarriage of justice?
§ Sir J. SIMONNo, I do not think so. In this particular instance I know the learned gentleman who represented the accused and I am certain that she suffered no prejudice in the presentation of her case by junior counsel.
§ Mr. SILVERMANWill the Home Secretary do me the justice to realise that I intended no reflection whatever on the learned gentleman who represented her? Does he not think that where there is such a very heavy battery of legal gentlemen on one side the effect on the mind of a rustic jury may be considerable?
§ Sir J. SIMONI think the hon. Member puts his question from a mistaken point of view. When counsel appear for the Crown in a serious case they are not a battery against an accused. They are engaged in trying to present the facts of the case with complete propriety and with the greatest impartiality.
§ Mr. SILVERMANIs it then the right hon. Gentleman's view that it was unnecessary for the Solicitor-General to appear in the case? Could not the case have been presented adequately and fairly by the other leading counsel who appeared, supported by junior counsel? If it was so difficult a case that a Law Officer of the Crown had to appear in person, would it not have been fair to see that the defence of the accused person on a capital charge was in the hands of people of equal prestige?
§ Sir J. SIMONIf I may say so, these questions really should be addressed to the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General is the responsible authority who selects and nominates counsel for the prosecution in a serious criminal charge. It is not a matter which comes within the functions of the Home Secretary, but my own view is that in a case of this sort the defence was most adequately conducted.
§ Mr. PRITTMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman and the Law Officer who is present whether, however able and eminent the one counsel who represents an accused person on a capital charge may be, it would not be well to recommend, so far as they can, to magistrates or others who allot counsel that there is power in those cases to allot two counsel, and that the almost intolerable burden of such defences is better borne by two?
§ Sir J. SIMONMy hon. and learned Friend will no doubt be glad to know that in the present case there were two counsel.
§ Mr. SILVERMANIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the Court of Criminal Appeal the accused person was represented by a leading counsel who did not appear at the original trial, and that that leading counsel desired to call additional evidence which was not admitted because it was available to the defence in the original trial, and was not called?
§ Sir J. SIMONI can assure the hon. Gentleman that, however that may be, it does not involve in the slightest degree any difference between King's Counsel and experienced junior counsel. Exactly the same view would be taken whether by experienced junior counsel or King's Counsel.