HC Deb 26 January 1956 vol 548 cc47-9W
75. Mr. Wiley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make available to hon. Members a copy of the transcript of the evidence and summing-up in the case of R. v. Richard Emery, Arthur Joseph Thompson and John Edmund Powers, by placing it in the Library of the House of Commons.

Major Lloyd-George

Section 16 of the Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, prescribes the persons who may obtain copies of transcripts and they are not available for study by the public. While it is true that the Home Secretary may obtain a copy "for his use," the general restriction imposed by the Act normally prohibits the Secretary of State from placing a copy in the Library or making one available to individual members, save in the most exceptional circumstances. Such circumstances do not appear to me to exist in the present case. This is not a matter of administrative practice but of the provisions of the law. There is no question of attempting to conceal what took place at the trial, which of course was held in public.

76. Mr. Willey

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department upon what basis the compensation paid to Richard Emery, Arthur Joseph Thompson and John Edmund Powers was assessed.

Major Lloyd-George

My decision to recommend the grant of free pardons to the men in question was taken in the circumstances indicated in my reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. de Freitas) on 24th January. Among the factors which have to be taken into account in deciding whatex gratia payment to make in a case of this kind are the length of the imprisonment undergone in respect of the conviction in question, whether the character of the persons concerned is such that there has been any loss of reputation, whether they contributed by giving untruthful evidence or otherwise to their own conviction, and their probable earning capacity in honest employment. My decision was based on consideration of all these matters and of the amounts given in roughly comparable cases in the past.

79. Mr. Hyde

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why free pardons have been granted Messrs. Leonard Richard Emery, James Edmund Powers and Arthur Thompson for crimes which they did not commit; and whether, in these and similar cases in future, he will employ official phraseology designed to make it clear that the accused have been wrongfully convicted.

Major Lloyd-George

The only power that the Home Secretary has to undo a conviction and its effects is to recommend the exercise of the Royal Prerogative by way of free pardon. The name "free pardon" has the sanction of long usage and it would be difficult to find another form of words which would be appropriate in the various circumstances in which the grant of a free pardon may be recommended. The document in which Her Majesty signifies Her Pleasure is so worded as to avoid the implication that the pardon is of an offence. It states that the pardon is of a conviction and remits its legal consequences. Pardon in this sense does not mean forgiveness but the remission of the penal consequences of a conviction.

81. Mr. S. Silverman

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what inquiry he proposes to institute into the causes which led to the miscarriage of justice whereby three innocent men were convicted of grave crimes and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, of which they served two years, although they gave a full and true account of their movements when first charged; and on what basis he arrived at the sums of money which he has offered them as compensation.

Major Lloyd-George

As to the first part of the Question, I do not propose to make any further inquiries into this case; as to the second part I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I have given today to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey).

Mr. Parkin

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he arrives at the decision as to the amount of compensation to be paid to a person released from prison on the grounds of wrongful conviction.

Major Lloyd-George

I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer which I have given today to the hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey).