TREASON CHARGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 161, 10 July 1945, Page 5

TREASON CHARGE

John Amery Remanded For

Three Weeks WITNESSES FROM CONTINENT LONDON, July 9. John Amery, aged 33, son of Mr. L. S; Amery, Secretary of State for India, and described as of no occupation, was charged in the Bow Street Police Court to-day with high treason. The charge was laid under the Treason Act of 1351. It was as follows:— "That he, being a person owing allegiance to the King, adhered to the King's enemies elsewhere than in the King's Realm, to wit, the German and Italian realms and those parts of Europe occupied or controlled by the King's enemies, contrary to the Treason Act, 1351."

The prosecution applied for a. three weeks' remand because Mr. Byrne, who is prosecuting, would in the interim be engaged in the Joyce case at the Old Bailey. Another reason was that a number of witnesses, had to be brought from the Continent.

The magistrate, Mr. McKenna, said the.reasons for the application evidently were not those given wide publicity elsewhere. He 'granted- a remand to July 30. In contrast with the Joyce case, there was apparently little interest in this- one. A trickle of people formed an early queue for places in the Court. Amery, bronzed and neatly dressed in a blue suit, his black hair brushed back, was brought in when the Court opened, although the case was the 19th on the list. Detective-Inspector E. W. Jones, the only witness, said Amery arrived in Britain by air under a military escort on July 7. Witness said he told Amery that he would be charged with high treason. He was formally charged and cautioned on the night of July 7. Amery replied that he was not in a position to make.a statement, and .would like to wait until he could take legal cldviCG. When -accused was remanded he bowed to the magistrate and was taken from the Court. The hearing lasted five minutes.