Mr. DUNDAS WHITEasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that in a case tried at the Marylebone Police Court on 29th June, in which certain persons were accused of an indecent assault upon a little girl nine years of age, when the case was heard the child's mother was ordered to leave the Court and two Policewomen also, the child being left in Court with no one of her own sex; whether this is in accordance with the directions of the Home Office; and whether he has taken, or will take, any action in the matter?
§ Sir G. CAVEI made inquiries about this case and found that the magistrate was not aware that the girl's mother was present, otherwise he would have allowed her to remain in Court. In a Circular issued by the Home Office to Justices in 1909 attention was called to the desirability of arranging that a girl should not be examined in a case of this kind without the presence of a woman, and I am proposing to issue another Circular on this subject.