§ Mr. WILLIAM THORNEasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a case which was tried at the Middlesex Sessions on Saturday, 6th February, 1915, at which the wife of a soldier of the Scots Guards, home wounded from the front, was sentenced to four months' imprisonment for obtaining £2 15s. from the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association at Hornsey; whether the woman in question was asked to refund the money by weekly payments before being prosecuted; and if he can see his way clear to reduce the sentence?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy attention was called to this case before my hon. Friend's question appeared on the Paper. I find that the Court reduced the sentence of four months to one month, but the exceptional and distressing circumstances attending the case, and the fact that the prisoner bore a good character prior to this conviction, have led me to the conclusion that the case is one in which without questioning the decision of the Court I should be justified in recommending His Majesty as a special act of clemency to remit the remainder of the sentence.