Man Strangled Two Wives

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30179, 10 July 1963, Page 12

Man Strangled Two Wives

[Speciallv written for the N.ZP.A. by FRANK PUDDICOMBE}

SYDNEY. The lenie'nt administration of criminal justice in New South Wales was trenchantly attacked by the “Sydney Morning Herald” in an editorial this week, prompted by the case of a man who strangled two wives. The man, John Eric Jenkins, aged 65, a clerk, who strangled his first wife in 1953, was convicted last week of strangling his second wife last December in almost •identical circumstances. Jenkins, who is small and bespectacled, killed his second wife, Irene, aged 50, a few months after their wedding. He strangled his first wife, Eileen, aged 30, after they had been married less than a year. The jury on that occasion found him not guilty of

murder on the ground of mental illness. Jenkins was committed to an institution and he was released from parole supervision in 1958.

The jury was not swayed by psychiatric evidence of mental illness in the second case and found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The “Herald” said that, following so soon after the Lawson case, it strengthened demands for a searching public inquiry into al! aspects of penalties, remission of sentences, and the granting of licences to be at large from

mental Institutions as well as prisons.

The penalty of “life imprisonment” imposed on Jeakins could mean that he might be at large before many more years have passed, said the “Herald." Leonard Lawson was originally sentenced to death for rape. The Executive Council cut down his' penalty from death to 14 years, but he served only seven. After his release. Lawson killed two girls and he is now serving a term of life imprisonment. These men should never be released, the “Herald” demanded.