FOR “NATURAL LIFE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 402, 10 July 1928, Page 1

FOR “NATURAL LIFE”

NORGROVE IN SAFE CUSTODY MR. COATES’S ASSURANCE An assurance that Alan Norgrove, the murderer, will be kept in safe custody, has been given to the relatives of the murdered woman by th 6 Prime Minister, Mr. Coates. Although the relatives did not wish that Norgrove should be made to suffer the death penalty, they asked that his confinement should be safe and permanent. Mr. Coates has written as follows to a near relative of the late Mrs. Norgrove:— “Referring to the deputation which waited on me recently in Auckland regarding the case of Alan Norgrove, and to the point which you raised as to the term of sentence, I have to inform you that the warrant under the hand of his Excellency the GovernorGeneral commuting the sentence of death prescribes as follows: “‘Thai the said Alan George Norgrove shall be kept in imprisonment for hard labour for the term of his natural life/ • “I might mention that there is in law no distinction between a sentence for life and a sentence for the term of a natural life. In each case the sentence is a sentence for life, and in neither case can a remission of sentence or release from prison be granted without the prior consent of his Excellency the Governor-General-in-Council. “Since my return to Wellington I have conferred with the Minister in charge of Prisons, and I am glad to be abl© to assure you that every precaution will be taken to guarantee Norgroye s safe custody while in prison. As the whole of the facts and the circumstances relating to the case, including your own representations, are on record for future reference, you and rne relatives of the unfortunate woman who was murdered can rest assured inat the interests of justice and the sarety of society will be the first conyieration in the event of the case being reviewed in years to come.”