A Spectator's Notebook
IN ONE WEEK'S time, if the course of true 'justice' still runs smoothly, a man whose sanity is seriously to be questioned will be hanged for a crime committed over three years ago and for which he has stood trial in no fewer than five courts. William Leighton, a Northern Irish labourer, was first tried at Londonderry Summer Assizes in 1952, charged with the murder of a child in May of that year. The trial was postponed until the following spring because of the inability of Leighton's mother to appear in court at that time. The pext jury. after hearing medical evidence that his mental state had seriously deteriorated, found the prisoner unfit to plead and he was detained at the Queen's pleasure until, on the direction of the Ulster Attorney-General, he again appeared before the Assizes last spring. 'In the interests of justice,' the judge once more adjourned the case, and on July 21 Leighton came before the Summer Assizes. Medical opinion being sought as to whether he was fit to plead or not, it was said that when examined on June 30 Leighton had shown no evidence of any mental abnor- mality. On the strength of this man's mental state on one given day, in spite of a history of fluctuating degrees of mental disturbance over the past three years, a plea of guilty was registered and sentence of death passed. This latest trial of Leighton should never have taken place. Surely once a jury has found a man unfit to plead to a particular charge that decision should be final. It will be a scandal if the Northern Irish authorities proceed with the execution.
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