'THE POLICE WISH IO interview Mr. X,'who they think may
be able to help their inquiries.' The communiqué has appeared depressingly often in the past few weeks : and I am beginning to won- der whether it does not tend to defeat its own purposes. The original aim was just : in British law a man being innocent until he is found guilty, it is unfair to brand anybody in public opinion as a criminal before his trial. But, nowadays, the trouble is that the present system may put per- fectly innocent people who the police 'think' may be able to help their inquiries' under suspicion. There have been two cases recently where, as a result, suspicion has rested on an innocent party : the name of one of them actually had to be cleared in court; and in the other a young man had some days of glaring publicity at a time when, apparently, he was no longer under suspicion. I can think of few surer ways to hamper the course of justice than to create a situation where somebody who might help the police is deterred from doing so by the fear his name will be in the papers, and that their readers (having no means of knowing to the contrary) will jump to the conclusion that he is the criminal.
Previous page
