Mr. F. HALLasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the circumstances surrounding the confinement of Wilfred Tiplady, a certified lunatic, to Broadmoor criminal asylum, he having been found guilty, but insane, at Leeds Assizes on a charge of manslaughter committed on 29th June, 1925; that Tiplady, a dumb epileptic, has been a certified lunatic since January, 1916; that he was originally confined in the Derby County Asylum at the age of 14 years, and subsequently transferred to the Menston Mental Hospital, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, although his relatives made strong protests against such transfer on the grounds that they would be unable to visit him and by their ministrations mitigate his tendency to violence; that on the occasion on which he committed the offence he was one of a party of 112 patients in charge of only two attend- 967W ants; that he was not allowed legal representation at his trial, nor were his relatives allowed to be present; and whether, in view of the fact that the constitutional violence of Tiplady was doubtless aggravated by reason of his isolation from the attention of his relatives, he will take immediate steps to have him removed from his present place of criminal detention?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSTiplady is detained in Broadmoor in his own interests and in the interests of the public. After most careful consideration I should not feel justified, in view of all the circumstances, in authorising his transfer to a local mental hospital.