§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons charged solely as a result of identification at identity parades have subsequently been acquitted in the last two years; and whether he will consider any scheme of compensation for such persons.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsStatistics of the kind requested by the hon. Member are not available, but some information bearing on the point was obtained by the Devlin Committee on Identification Procedures as a result of inquiries which were made on its behalf. I must ask the hon. Member to await the publication of the Committee's report, I hope by the end of this month.
There is no statutory provision for the compensation of persons acquitted in the normal course of trial, but individual cases may, exceptionally, be considered on their merits and I may agree to make an extra-statutory payment if the circumstances are compelling and there has been some default by public authority.
§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to prevent publicity being given to charges made by the police in advance of the holding of identity parades at which the accused person is to appear.
622W
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI do not think that any general rule of this kind would be practicable. It is for the courts to assess the value of identification evidence, and I do not doubt that they take into account the possibility that a witness may have been influenced, for example by the publication of a photograph in a newpaper.