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Motor Fatality (Gloucester)

Volume 47: debated on Monday 3 February 1913

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asked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the fact that William Moorhouse was convicted of manslaughter at the Gloucester Assizes for driving a motor car on the high road between Bristol and Gloucester at the rate of forty miles an hour, and so causing the death of a wagoner; and that the sentence inflicted by the judge was a fine of £20; if he is aware that Moorhouse had previously been convicted on nineteen occasions of motoring offences; and if he will consider the desirability of introducing legislation to secure a greater penalty being inflicted in similar cases of manslaughter?

I have ascertained the facts of this case. The sentence was entirely in the discretion of the judge. If he had thought the circumstances required it, he could have imposed imprisonment or even penal servitude. I do not think the circumstances afford any ground for an amendment of the law in the direction suggested.