Podola
C o the Podola case reaches its predictably rej ul- 13 sive end, with the usual serial in a Sunday paper ('Was I chained in Hell?') and the usual gay gossip about the executioner in one of the dailies (`Podola Hangman Sensation .. . hangman Harry Allen revealed to me last night "I was a friend of Det.-Sgt. Purdy" '). There are still many unresolved problems; some directly, some in- directly concerned with the case. Why did the police take so long to find Podola? What really happened at the time of his arrest? Ought the onus to be on the prosecution or the defence to estab- lish whether or not a man is unfit to plead by reason of mental breakdown, genuine or assumed? Is a court of law the.best place to solve a medical problem which baffles the profession? If not, how can it fairly be solved? Ought the Attorney- General to have refused Podola's counsel leave to appeal to the Lords? Ought he to have the right to decide whether an appeal in any case such as' this should be refused? Some of these problems have nothing to do with the fate of Podola, but some have; and it is yet another indictment of capital punishment that in this case, where doubt remains whether he was fit to plead, he should be hanged.
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