THORNE'S CRIME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 121, 24 April 1925, Page 5

THORNE'S CRIME.

WAS A CONFESSION MADE? GAOL GOVERNOR*" DECLINES TO SAY. LONDON, April 22. Norman Thorne, who was found guilty of murdering Elsie Cameron, his fiancee, at Crowborough, was hanged at eight this morning in Wandsworth prison. He faltered momentarily when he caught sight of the execution shed, then walked unassisted to the scaffold. The execution was the most rapid in the memory of the officials, being completed in ten seconds. There was au unusual incident at the formal inquest after tho execution. A juror asked whether Thorne made any fonfession on the scaffold. The Governor of the prison replied:— “I have no authority to answer that question.” The Coroner: “That means you are forbidden to answer ? There is no question of authority to answer questions put by the Coroner’s jury.” The Governor: “I received instructions authorising me to say that I was not in a position to answer.” The Coroner: “So the public, represented by the jury, is not to know whether Thorne made a confession.” The Governor: “I am only able to repeat that I am not authorised to reply.” The jury- returned the usual verdict.— A. and N.Z. cable. ATTITUDE OF HOME OFFICE. LONDON, April 23. Apropos of the questions at the inquest on Thorne, Sir William Joynson-Hicks (Secretary of State for Home Affairs), in an interview witli the Daily Express, explained why- the Home Office dioes not publish confessions by- those convicted of murder. He said: “Some make a full, written confession, which comes to the Homo Secretary. Others make a statement to the prison Governor, stipulating that confidence must bo observed. Others confess to a clergyman, which is a sacred matter, about which nothing can be said. Regarding cases of the first-mentioned persons, the statement might contain only half-facts. Often a condemned person makes a statement in order to relieve his feelings, but wishes to keep the truth from his relatives. There was a case recently where a married man made a statement ion the explicit understanding that Ids’wife should never know. The Home Office view is that a man, having been convicted and executed, the matter should be left there, and I am convinced that this is the right course.” —-A. and N.Z. cable.