LIFE SENTENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 200, 12 November 1927, Page 1

LIFE SENTENCE

release of prisoner DEMANDED , N GAOL OVER 18 YEARS Press Association. —Cop y right. ,y ’ LONDON, Thursday. T he Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, Major Walter Elliott, stated 1D the House of Commons that he felt he would be justified in releasing on licence as soon as arrangements could t, e made the man, Oscar Slater, who «as convicted of the murder of Miss Gilchrist at Glasgow. He was sento imprisonment for life and served IS* years. \ section of the British Press and many prominent men have long sought !he release of Slater. The German foreign Office points out that it cannot take up the man’s case until he “lies for repatriation. He forfeited Ms German citizenship by going to live Scotland in order to avoid conscription. CONAN DOYLE’S FIGHT “Slater’s release is only the beginning of things.” says Sir Arthur Conan noyle, who has fought ceaselessly for the prisoner’s vindication. ‘‘Slater is now an old and broken man, and no effort must be spared to ensure that hjg sufferings are productive of some rood This is the greatest police scandal of modern times. It is evident that the judicial authorities made the gravest of mistakes. Anyone who happened to be walking the streets of Glasgow at the same time as Slater might have been found guilty.” Sir Arthur Is now framing a petition to Parliament asking for a full inquiry into Slater’s arrest and trial, and urging that he be compensated. The agitation for Slater’s release is the result of a message the prisoner sent to Sir Arthur. This was written on a piece of paper and hidden in a hollow tooth of another prisoner when he was discharged from Peterhead Gaol in 1925.— A. and N.Z.-Sun.