HC Deb 22 July 1943 vol 391 c1048
10. Mr. Benson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that Mr. Justice Cassels, on Wednesday, 5th May, at Manchester Assizes, passed a sentence of four years' penal servitude on a medical practitioner convicted of performing illegal operations; that following evidence that the prisoner had suffered from general paralysis of the insane, and was now a mental wreck, the judge stated in passing sentence that there would be ample opportunity for more efficient treatment of the prisoner's case; what steps he has taken to provide specialised mental treatment; in what prison it is being provided; and the qualifications of the medical practitioner by whom the treatment is being given?

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Herbert Morrison)

The prisoner to whom my hon. Friend refers has been transferred to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where there are facilities for dealing with mental cases requiring special treatment, and where he is under the care of the Medical Officer, who has a wide experience of cases of this kind.

Commander Locker-Lampson

Was he mad when he received sentence of four years?

Mr. Benson

Is the prisoner referred to actually receiving malaria treatment?

Mr. Morrison

I cannot say that, but he is under most careful observation.