SIR,—Miss Tennyson Jesse writes : 'All Father Joseph said to
comfort Mrs. Probert was that her son did not strike him as a man who would commit a murder.'
If he did say such a thing, Miss Jesse must realise that he was saying a good deal. For it is unlikely that he was offering Mrs. Probed the comforting thought that, although her son was a self-confessed double murderer, at least he had not looked or sounded like one.
What he meant was that he did not believe that Evans was a murderer. This carries the certain implication that Evans did not confess to murder. What Father Joseph said to Mrs. Probert is not much different from what he first said to me. The subsequent questions and answers merely made ex- plicit what was already implicit.
Mr. Tomkins criticises my interview with Father Joseph on technical grounds. But the technique—fact, logical question, answer, logical question, etc. etc., conclusion—is no , longer new or notable. It is a quality (vice?) most of us try to practise.
Curiously enough, it is conceivable that Mr. Tomkins does not. For he clearly inclines to hurl him- self at what he thinks are coaclusions. An instance is his belief that my interview with Father Joseph was published by my editor. It was not—as a simple question would have elicited.—Yours faithfully, PETER BAKER 310a Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3
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