HC Deb 14 February 1967 vol 741 cc354-7
Mr. Hogg (by Private Notice)

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he proposes to take consequent upon the report of the Chief Constable of Stoke regarding the circumstances of the arrest of Mr. Leslie Parkes.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Roy Jenkins)

I fully understand the concern which is felt in all parts of the House about this case. I share this concern. As soon as I saw the Press accounts, I asked for a report from the Chief Constable of Stoke-on-Trent, who has told me that he is causing the circumstances to be fully investigated by a senior officer of another force and that he will then consider what disciplinary action would be appropriate. In view of my appellant responsibility in police discipline cases, the House will, I believe, understand that it would be wrong for me to comment further.

Mr. Hogg

While fully accepting what the right hon. Gentleman said in the last words of his Answer, would he, however, confirm his view, which I believe is widely held, that unless one is dealing with a very dangerous professional criminal, which is not the case here, it only undermines the confidence we all wish to feel in the Police Force to lure a man into a police station by means of a deliberate untruth? Would not he agree that one is not dealing here with a serious professional crime, and that even a suspect is entitled to be treated in good faith?

Mr. Jenkins

I think that that is so, and that was probably felt to be so by the Chief Constable himself, which was the reason why he issued his forthright statement yesterday and has acted as promptly and vigorously as he has in this case.

Mr. Ashley

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that this prompt admission by the Chief Constable of Stoke-on-Trent is to be welcomed and that it will facilitate early and effective action against those responsible? However, would not he also agree that it would be deplorable if this admission were to be used as a basis for a successful attack upon the police of Stoke-on-Trent or the police throughout the country?

Mr. Jenkins

I very much hope that that will not be so and I do not believe that it will be so. My view is that when the police show, as they have in a case like this, their great desire to deal with any possible faults, this can do nothing but help the reputation of the police throughout the country.

Mr. Powell

Would the right hon. Gentleman make it clear that the inquiry to which he referred in his Answer is not in derogation of the Government inquiry which was promised yesterday by a Minister representing the Defence Department?

Mr. Jenkins

I believe that this is an entirely separate matter relating to circumstances following the arrest of Mr. Parkes and that it in no way touches on that other matter. This is a question of discipline within the Stoke-on-Trent Police Force.

Mr. Shinwell

There are several aspects of this case which appear to need investigating by my right hon. Friend's Department and also by the Ministry of Defence. Is my right hon. Friend satisfied with the reports and pictures which have appeared in the Press of Mr. Parkes being handcuffed to a military policeman, with another policeman with a pick-handle to the ready? Surely this is not the kind of thing that we expect in this country. Is he aware that this is not a police State, and will he consult his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence in order to put an end to these most obnoxious proceedings?

Mr. Jenkins

I take note of my right hon. Friend's remarks. The conditions relating to the present custody of Mr. Parkes are inevitably a matter for my right hon. Friend, with whom I am in consultation.

Mr. Powell

Further to the right hon. Gentleman's reply to my question, would he be good enough to look at the terms in which the Government inquiry to which I referred was promised yesterday?

Mr. Jenkins

I will certainly look at those terms. I do not believe that there is any misunderstanding or difference between us here. This is a question of police discipline, for which I am ultimately responsible and about which I am answering today. There is a separate question which my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Army answered yesterday.

Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that, as the Chief Constable of Stoke said that it was completely unnecessary to adopt this ruse, as Army personnel had full power to arrest this man, there may be an explanation for the somewhat surprising manœuvre of the inspector which would show that, though misguided, he was acting from proper motives?

Mr. Jenkins

I would certainly not wish to say anything in answer to that question which might in any way impair my appellate responsibilities which I mentioned in my original Answer.

Sir Knox Cunningham

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether, if the photographs mentioned had appeared in connection with a civil case, there would have been some Question of contempt of court? If so, is there anything comparable in the case of a military tribunal?

Mr. Jenkins

I would hesitate to advise the House about this. Had it been a civil case, I think that it would have been for my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General to consider the question of contempt of court.

Mr. Thorpe

Can the Home Secretary say a little more about the scope of the inquiry? Has he seen reports alleging that a military spokesman said yesterday that Parkes was invited to go to the police station because it was in his own interests? Apart from this somewhat odd evaluation of his own interests and inclinations, in so far as this gives some indication of collusion between the civil and the military authorities will the inquiry be sufficiently wide in scope to investigate that matter?

Mr. Jenkins

As I said in reply to the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell), there are two separate issues. What the inquiry is concerned with, and properly concerned with, is a disciplinary offence within the police force of Stoke-on-Trent

Mr. Hogg

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman a question which may exceed the rôle of his own office? Does there not come a point in all these cases when, irrespective of the ultimate merits, the Government ought to step in and realise that the authorities have made such a mess that they ought to drop the matter?

Mr. Jenkins

The Government are dealing with the disciplinary aspects of the matter as quickly and as effectively as they possibly can.

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