Force Orders 1945

X TO BE CIRCUL4TED TO ALL R4AK5 OF T C iva � IRE CO? BTAELiARY. 3rd. October, 1945. In continuationof General Order No. 25/1945 of 27th. Septomber, 1945, t e Chief Constabledraws the attention 6f a11 ranks to the following newspaper report of murder trial in Edinburgh:- . DOCU?IdT BARRED IN YCUTH MURDER TRIAL. Edihburgh,Tuesda,y. Y?�ite-faced,an 18 year o1d boy came running out of the High Court here today crving to am o1d man who waited: 'bh, dad; oh, dad - I'm free:" Robert CarmichaelRigg had been �ound not guilty of the mwder of his Y eight-year o1d niece Phyllis orri{t, rrhose battered b ody was found in a n airr id shelter near his home at St. John's Hi11, Edinburgh. . . Five minute earlier !r. D. P. Blades, .C., the solicitor-Generalfor Scotland,conductingthe case against Rigg, had azinouncedthat he proposedto drop the charge. The boy in the dock had heard his counsel,Mr. A. P. Duffes, S.C.,:object successfully to the submission to the jury of evidence from Lir. Y'. I,:errilees, . Superintendentof Edinburgh C.I.D.,on a statementsaid to have been made . voluntarilyby Rigg at police headquarterson Ju1y 12, the day on which the dead girl was found. He had heard the judge, Lord Cooper , say: -"It is quite incredible tht such a statementwould have been taken from any person, least of a11 from a person of th� age and experienceof the accused as a spontaneousvolunts.ry statement." 1 . I.errileestold the court that Rigg reported the discoveryof the gir1. Pressure. . That afternootthe riadea statament. He stayed at the police station at his own wish while investigationswent on, end it was atout 9 p.m. that he volunteeredanother statement, saying �I wi11 te11 you what happened.1 ir. Duffes i R ediatelyobjectedto this statementbeing submitted,and the jury and SuperintendentMerrileesretired while counsel debated the objection. . Claimingthat when Rigg made this second statementhe was to a11 intents wider deter.tion,Mr. Duffes said that not on1y had the accused been detained at the police stationfor hours, but it was wider pressure that the statement had been taken from.him. Upholdingthe objection,Lord Cooper said: "I am bound to say that I have viewedwith growing uneasinessand distastethe frequeneywith which, in recent years, there have been featured in support of prosecutionsvoluntary statements,se.idto have been made to the police by persons charged with grave crises or persons suspectedof having committed such crimes." This report shows how necessary it is that General Order ldo.25/1945 be rigidiy compl edwith. Further it emphasizesthe necessity of the ac �sed writing his own statement. Yrhanthis is dono, 1t does away with grouads for attec] ngthe statement. It shouldbe the yu1e end not the exception,tNat the accusedwrites his owm statement. Q, f . ChiefConstableof Cheshire.