§ 26. Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why, in an application made to the Becontree magistrates and heard on 8th December, 1966, at the Stratford Magistrates' Court, details of which have been sent to him by the honourable Member for Wanstead and Woodford, evidence of previous convictions of the man whom the applicant was seeking permission to marry was not made available by the police to the applicant's parents who were opposing the application.
§ Miss BaconIt is not the practice of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to disclose this kind of information to private individuals, but he has no record of having been asked for these particulars by the parents of the girl concerned. The particulars, which related to 1941 juvenile offences, were disclosed to the court by the man himself.
§ Mr. JenkinIs the right hon. Lady aware that the information which was disclosed to the court came out in reexamination? Is she further aware that the parents knew nothing whatever of the facts which were disclosed to them by the police only after the proceedings were completed, as a result of which they are now labouring under a grievous sense of injustice.
§ Miss BaconThe hon. Member has a mistaken impression of the purpose of these proceedings. It is not for the police to make investigations into these matters and it is certainly not for the police to hand to private individuals any of the information which they have. In these cases the court has to act in a judicial capacity and, on the basis of the evidence submitted, assess whether the particular grounds on which the parents have withheld their consent are good and sufficient.