28 MAY 1927, Page 3

On Tuesday, the Lord Chief Justice inflicted very stern sentences

on a gang of six blackmailers, the ring- leader being sentenced to penal servitude for life. The Lord Chief Justice said that it was difficult to understand why persons who were tortured as this victim had been tortured, relentlessly and ingeniously for years, did not come forward and seek the relief of the law. As he pointed out, they can rely upon the discretion of the Press to withhold their names. They will get safety without publicity. And further, they will be doing a public service in helping to stamp out " one of the worst pests of contemporary civilization."