§ Mr. John Farr (Harborough)With your permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and that of the House, I wish to present a petition in the name of Mr. Martin Patrick Foran, whom I have met and with whom I have corresponded, and by whose circumstances I am impressed. The petition is as follows:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.The Humble Petition of Martin Patrick Foran showethThat I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for crimes I did not commit, because of the way in which my trial was conducted.That two of the main witnesses, people I was accused of robbing, were not called at my trial.That after my trial they gave statements to my solicitor stating that I was not the person who robbed them.That when I appealed on grounds of mistaken identity, one of these people was called as a witness to the Appeal Court and stated that I was definitely not the person who robbed him.That my appeal was not allowed by the judges on the grounds that in the original trial I was not identified, and that therefore there could be no case of mistaken identity.Wherefore your Petitioner prays that your honourable House will urge the Secretary of State for the Home Office to consider this miscarriage of justice and take action to right it.And your Petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.Martin Foran,H.M. Prison Gartree,Market Harborough,Leicestershire.
§ To lie upon the Table.