Intensive Campaign For Reprieve Thieves Rob I Convent

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28890, 9 May 1959, Page 13

Intensive Campaign For Reprieve

Thieves Rob I Convent

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 8. Once again—as occurs whenever the question of the death penalty arises—the British press and public have been heatedly debating the pros and cons of capital punishment.

The argument this time has arisen from the decision by the Home Secretary (Mr Butler) that Ronald Henry Marwood, aged 25, convicted of murdering Constable Raymond Summrs, must be hanged. The amount of publicity given by the press to the case, to Marwood’s mother and wife and to the dead policeman’s mother and fiancee reflects the intense interest which newspapers assume the British public takes in such events. There have been pictures of everybody connected with the affair, long interviews with people intimately and distantly concerned and front-page photographs of a sombre-faced Mr Butler—“the man who had to decide.” The divided views of the British press on capital punishment have again been thrashed out in editorial columns and social, legal and clerical writers have had a field day airing their views. Marwood stabbed the policeman during a gang fight in north London. The policeman was attempting to break up the fight and had arrested a friend of Marwood. Marwood then drew a knife and stabbed him in the back. He is the first person to be sentenced to death under a section of the Homicide Act which protects police officers and prison warders. The death penalty has been abolished in Britain except in certain “capital murders” which include the killing of a policeman acting in the execution of his duty. Two Petitions The public campaign for the reprieve for Marwood grew to the biggest effort of its kind. Last week 150 members of all parties in Parliament signed a petition—believed to be unprecedented in Parliamentary history —appealing for Marwood’s life. A second petition carrying 15,000 signatures, among them those of prominent members of the House of Lords, also went to Mr Butler. Mr Butler decided not to recommend a reprieve. Marwood’s appeal against conviction was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal on April 20. The eleventh-hour efforts continued when seven clergymen pointly appealed to the Queen for mercy. • v And last night, shortly before

me demonstrations, ouuiae rtntonville prison, Marwood’s father < unsuccessfully appealed to the Attorney-General (Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller). View of Victim's Mother A great deal of publicity had * been given to the final statement by Mrs Ruby Summers, the mother of the murdered constable, who said she thought it right that Marwood should hang. “I have tried hard to find an excuse for* him but it is impos- ' sible,” she said. “He killed my • son deliberately. “When I first heard about 1 Ray’s death I told myself I mustn’t feel bitter about the people responsible but when I saw his body and saw what they, had done to him, that altered everything. Then I couldn't stop* the bitterness.” Mrs Summers said she had had letters of sympathy from men j who had served with her son in J the Royal Air Force, including; some from New Zealand. After hearing Mr Butler’s de-f cision and some of the 150 Parliamentarians who signed the peti-f [ tion seeking a reprieve I tried to > find a way of raising the matter! i in the House of Commons. They! » consulted various authorities buti 5 could find no loophole in the . House of Commons procedure i which would allow a discussion i on Mr Butler’s decision. i Every authority was definite i that the Royal prerogative must' . never at any time be challengedl or questioned in Parliament.

■ (Rec. Il p.m.) PADUA, May 8 ; Thieves broke into *., con Y, en< ' yesterday and stole a million lire* - worth of shares as well as bank* ■ notes, after gagging the Mothei' Superior with an ether mask. • To reach her room, where th« i money was stored, the thieve I had to creep on tiptoe througl a dormitory filled - with sleeping i n< The alarm was i Mother Superior, Sister Benedicts Cristcfori, when she recovered . | from the effect* of the