It will strike everyone as shocking that a completely innocent
man should be imprisoned for three weeks and get no more compensation than £5 out of the poor-box. Whether there is a prospect of more compensation from some other source I don't know, but- it is obvious that there should be. The man in question was picked out in an identity-parade as a member of a gang which carried out a raid on the well-known 'Prospect of Whitby 'public-house in Wapping on January 10th. He was arrested on January 27th, identified by three out of the five guests who had been robbed, and remained in custody on bail till Monday of this week, when it was admitted that it was a case of mistaket identification and Penfold left the court without a stain on his character—and apparently without a penny in his pocket other than the poor-box £5. No one, it seems, can be blamed. Men must be arrested on suspicion, or many criminals would escape. Identity parades have their uses, but their fallibility must be recognised. It need not be argued that police methods must be revised, but these particular methods ought to be applied with scrupulous care, and where they lead to an innocent man suffering he should be indemnified to' the fullest extent possible. * * * *
Previous page
