asked the Home Secretary whether, in the case of Leo Burke, a boy of 16, who was recently committed to Borstal for three years by the London Sessions for stealing handbags from churches, a mental specialist was asked to examine the boy before conviction; and whether, in view of the fact that the boy has already been in a lunatic asylum, has had five previous convictions, has served two terms in a reformatory, and is stated to have a passion for this form of theft, he will order an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining whether he is a fitting subject for treatment in a mental institution?

Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSON:

This boy was carefully examined, before conviction, by the medical officers of the Wandsworth Boys' Prison, who are mental specialists. The boy was not found to be certifiable either under the Mental Deficiency Act or the Lunacy Acts, and could not be sent to a mental institution. At the Borstal Institution his mental and physical state will be kept under observation.