HC Deb 30 March 1914 vol 60 c860W
Mr. TOUCHE

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters have been written by C. D. Pritchard, now confined at Broadmoor, during his detention?

Mr. McKENNA

To go through the records and trace every letter the patient has written for the last twelve years would occupy the time of an officer for at least several days. The patient has generally written one, sometimes two, letters a week.

Mr. TOUCHE

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the staffs in the criminal lunatic asylums would be prejudiced by loss of office, or otherwise, by any material permanent reduction in the number of inmates?

Mr. McKENNA

No.

Mr. TOUCHE

asked if it is an invariable rule that a person found, by a verdict of a jury, to be guilty but insane, and ordered to be detained during His Majesty's pleasure, is detained permanently in a criminal lunatic asylum until he can be discharged, or are there any instances of a removal to a county asylum; and is there any authority by which this removal can be made?

Mr. McKENNA

Under Section 5 (1) of the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, a criminal lunatic may be removed from a criminal lunatic asylum to a county asylum, subject to the conditions laid down in Section 9 of the Act. This is occasionally done, but not often.