§ Mr. Hefferasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of Surrey as to the precise date on which police 423W inquiries into the matters raised in paragraph 39 of his Department's memorandum on the Maguire case were completed.
§ Mr. MellorThe inquiries on which the sixth sentence of paragraph 39 is based were made by the Metropolitan police, who first arrested the Maguire family. At the time when the memorandum was drawn up, the Metropolitan police had reported that they had no written record of Vincent Maguire showing them a stick of chalk or any similar object. Subsequently, on 10 February, we were informed that none of the Metropolitan police officers involved in the case could verify his account of the matter (on which evidence had been offered at the trial).
In the light of comments since made on paragraph 39 of the memorandum, we shall be consulting the chief constable of Surrey.