NAME DRAMATICALLY CLEARED AFTER 19 YEARS IN SHADOWS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6668, 23 July 1928, Page 7

NAME DRAMATICALLY CLEARED AFTER 19 YEARS IN SHADOWS

Appeal Court Quashes Verdict Against Slater “JURY MISDIRECTED BY JUDGE” British Official Wireless. RUGBY, July 20. Oscar Slater, who nearly 20 years ago was sentenced for the murder of Miss Gilchrist lu Glasgow, and who served over 18 years’ imprisonment, won his appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Court of Criminal Appeal at Edinburgh to-day. Thus ends dramatically the agitation in Slater's favour, which has been going on for years, and in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the well-known criminologist, has played a leading part. \ The Lord Justice General, Lord Clyde, delivering the judgment of the Appeal Court, said that tho ease was undoubtedly one of great difficulty. Of those principally concerned in the original trial, whether as witnesses or in preparing tho case 1 , few now survived. Even tho Judge who presided died nine years -ago. Proofs of the identity of Slater adduced at the original had been exposed to formidable criticism in tho course of tho appeal,- but the difficulties of -proving identity had been fairly put before the jury at the original trial by counsel on both sides, and their importance had been impressed upon tho jury by thu-Judgc. Under those circumstances tho Appeal Court was unable to hold , that the jury’s verdict was either unreasonable or unsupported by evidence. But the Court' of Appeal held that there had; been a misdirection of the jury by the Judge who had told the jury that what is familiarly known as presumption of innocence in criminal eases applied to Slater with less effect, in view of his ambiguous character. Presumption of innocence was fundamental to the whole system of British criminal prosecution, and it was a radical error on tho part of the Judge to Lave suggested that tho latter did not have the same benefit as any other accused person. - Tho Appeal Court has decided that the conviction must be set aside on the grounds of this-misdirection in law.

HEAVY COMPENSATION: TO i BE PAID—PERHAPS £20,000,

Rcceivo'd Sunday 5.5 p.m, LONDON, July 21. The dramatic clearance of Oscar Slater’s name in the same Court in which nineteen years ago ho was sentenced to death has few parallels in the history of British justice. Compensation on a generous scale will ho given Slater,, according to competent authorities. Sums varying from £15,000 to £20,000 arc mentioned, but at present any. figure is merely speculation. The Home Secretary and the Secretary for Scotland will hold consultations with the law officers and other members of the Government before any recommendation is brought before Cabinet. Newspapers insist that compensation must be commensurate with the great agony, though they unanimously admit it is almost impossible" "adequately t'o compensate Slater. / It is pointed out that Adolphe Bode, wrongly'sentenced to seven years gaol in 1895, was awarded £SOOO. ■. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hopes that responsible officials who refused for years to do anything in the matter will be. sharply pulled up. | Mr, Ramsay MacDonald states that the whole case fills one with horror. It is clearly the duty of the Government to compensate fully. 1 Slater was present in the public gallery. His solo thought when he realised what the judgment meant was to run from the Court. ■ He listened intently not betraying emotion, resting his head on his loft arm as the Lord Justice of Appeal read his unanimous acquittal. Ho kept a piercing gaze on the Judge unfalteringly. It was not till the final paragraphs of the judgment that the decision was apparent. When it finished Slater stood up suddenly, his face livid with red patches. It seemed he did) not at first realise what it meant. Then he hurried out brushing aside those trying to congratulate Mm.