§ Lord HOUGHTON of SOWERBYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the parents of the 13-year old girl and her 16-year old brother, both wrongfully prosecuted in September 1977 under Section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, have now received an apology direct from the Director of Public Prosecutions and have been officially notified of the free pardon recommended by the Home Office.
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHI understand that the Director of Public Prosecutions has had no correspondence with the parents of the young people concerned but the Assistant Director, in reply to a letter from Mrs. Diane Munday of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, acknowledged and regretted that the advice given by his Department was wrong. The contents of that letter were released to the Press and received national publicity.
A letter was sent to the parents of the young people by the Home Office on 11th November 1977 telling them that the Home Secretary had decided to recommend the grant of free pardons to their son and daughter and that these would expunge the finding of guilt from the court and police records.