I want to bring to the attention of the House the case of Mr. Adrian Ayres, who is a citizen in the county borough of Burnley and at the moment is a very despondent and unhappy man. I should like to outline the cause for that state of affairs. First, he wishes to make upon the Home Office and the Government a claim for an ex gratiapayment in lieu of compensation for wrongful arrest. I should like to recount the facts of that unhappy affair.

He spent three months in Her Majesty's prison with a capital charge over his head. We should pause there a moment and realise that this was indeed a terrible position for him to be in. At Lancaster Assizes on 22nd May, 1963, he was acquitted after a trial lasting only one-and-a-half days. I would draw that fact to your attention, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, and to that of the House, because that fact alone establishes this as a very exceptional case.

I will not go into it in too great a detail, because I am not a lawyer. Nevertheless, my researches entitle me to say that the very fact that this man Adrian Ayres was acquitted on the direction of the judge and not merely found not guilty by a jury is a very important point. Indeed, I am entitled to say that at that point he could have been declared an innocent person and not a person found not guilty. I hope that the Home Office will bear that very important point in mind.

This man's anguish while in Her Majesty's prison was made worse by the knowledge that his wife was pregnant. It was a terrible ordeal, and yet Ayres, who has pressed me on a number of occasions, and I believe with every justification, bears no malice to the police or to anyone else. But there is no doubt that, as a result of his imprisonment and the emotional strain, he suffered considerably. In the six weeks following his discharge at Lancaster Assizes he was a sick man. He had a nervous breakdown. He lost his employment. I am certainly not blaming his employers; the man obviously had become very much less efficient. He claims that during this very anxious period when he had to undergo this terrible strain his financial losses amounted to some £300. That £300 was in debts of various descriptions which relatives had paid in homage to him in this very trying position, and included rent arrears—and we can imagine the position at home, with his wife in the condition I have already described.

Mr. Ayres has pressed his claim on me and I have here a letter in which he wanted me to take up his case with the Prime Minister. I knew perfectly well that if there was a means of deciding his case in any terms satisfactory to him this certainly would have been—I say this with respect to the Prime Minister—rather the better way.

I am comforted in bringing this case forward because I find that if the Home Office looks upon this case with any degree of compassion—and I feel it ought to—it will not be creating any precedent. That, I think, is very important. I find that in the last ten years eight people have been so treated, and that the sums of compensation have been from £80 to £400. I would not want to attempt to put the Home Office in the position of creating a dangerous precedent, though I am realist enough to believe that I would not succeed if I tried; but the precedent has already been created. Thus no precedent can be created, inasmuch as these eight cases have been established in the last ten years. Thus with that, coupled with the knowledge that this is undoubtedly an exceptional case, for the reasons which I have already dwelt upon, I think we can see that Mr. Ayres, who now feels he has been denied justice, can receive it. I appeal very much to the spokesman of the Home Office tonight to give very serious consideration to that indeed.

I want to make some reference to the background of this man who has suffered such an unhappy period in his life. He has never at any time been in any trouble with the police in any part of the country. He possesses an honourable discharge from Her Majesty's Forces. I have here a personal recommendation from a neighbour, and I am sure the House would be interested to hear it. It says: I have known Adrian Keith Ayres over a long period of time, and have always found him to be kind, considerate, and of good manners at all times. He is industrious and hard working, completely honest in all his dealings with other people. In his domestic life I find him kind, faithful, compassionate; in short, a man happy in his wife and child, upon him they can rely. He is not given to any violent or turbulent impulses, but he is rather the sort of person who would 'go the other mile'. I am not quite sure what our friend means when he says "go the other mile." This is language which may be familiar to other hon. Members but is not familiar to me. It would seem to mean "turn the other cheek." The writer goes on: I can quite honestly recommend him…and there is no doubt in my mind as to his complete reliability. I am, Yours faithfully, Howard V. Yates. This man is a licensed lay reader in the Church of England. I am sure that this gentleman, occupying such a position, would measure his words extremely carefully. I also have a recommendation from Mr. Ayres' employers who, after a period of time, found that his usefulness had become reduced. I am not blaming the employers, and it may be that they were justified in their action. In desiring to discover as much as I could about his background, I asked them to tell me what kind of a workman Mr. Ayres was. They informed me in a letter: We confirm that the above named"— that is, Mr. Ayres— has been in our employ as a production worker since May 1958. He performs the work allotted to him in a satisfactory manner, whilst his relationships with his supervisor and fellow-employees have always been most harmonious. There was general sympathy for him during the period he was prevented from working, and his return was welcomed by one and all. I have deliberately sought independent testimony about this man's character, and, as I see it, the facts show that there is not a person in the United Kingdom who, in the position of Mr. Ayres, would not feel entitled to seek redress. There cannot be anyone who, believing in justice, would refuse him. I say this as a deeply held opinion. Indeed, I would like to meet the person who, having endured what Mr. Ayres has endured, would not feel that society owes him something in return.

For these reasons, I humble ask the Joint Under-Secretary to reconsider this request on the basis of human compassion. When that reconsideration is made, I hope that one point will be borne in mind—that in my opinion this case is different from those which fall in other categories; that this is a man who was undoubtedly acquitted and who, I believe, was innocent rather than was found not guilty.

I hope that I have said enough for the hon. Lady to tell me that this matter will be reconsidered and that when that reconsideration takes place it will be done on a basis of compassion with regard to a person who has suffered at the hands, of the law, I believe innocently, and that amends should be made.