HC Deb 15 April 1954 vol 526 cc129-30W
22 and 23. Mr. Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will now arrange for the bodies of convicted murderers to be returned to their next of kin so as to ensure a Christian burial;

(2) if he will return to the parents of Derek Bentley the body of their son to enable them to arrange for a Christian burial.

Sir H. Lucas-Tooth

The law requires that the body of an executed prisoner shall be buried within the walls of the prison in which the sentence was carried out; and the essentials of Christian burial have always been preserved in the case of those prisoners who professed the Christian faith. The answer to both the requests made by the hon. Member is "No."