REPORTERS.

CRIMINAL APPEAL CASES, before all the Judges, by J. THOMPSON, Esq.;

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, by W. F. FINLASON, Esq.;

NORTHERN CIRCUIT, by H. F. THURLOW, Esq.;

WESTERN CIRCUIT, by T. W. SAUNDERS, Esq.;
OXFORD CIRCUIT, by JOHN ROSE, Esq.;

HOME CIRCUIT, by W. F. FINLASON, Esq.;
MIDLAND CIRCUIT, by H. F. POOLEY, Esq.;
NORFOLK CIRCUIT, by J. W. COOPER, Esq.;
IRELAND, by W. MULHOLLAND, Esq.;

Barristers-at-Law.

REPORTS

OF

Criminal Law Cases.

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL.

November 16 and 23, 1867.

(Before KELLY, C.B., WILLES, J., BRAMWELL, B., BYLES, J., and

LUSH, J.)

REG. v. THOMAS TYSON. (a)

Perjury-Materiality-False evidence-Alibi.

and

S. was indicted for robbery committed on April 13, at 8.45 p.m., the prisoner, a witness to prove an alibi on the trial of that indictment, swore that S. was in a house at a distant place at that time, and that S. had lodged at that house nearly two years, and had never been away for more than two or three nights at a time during the period. The prisoner was indicted for perjury on that evidence, and convicted on the assignments of perjury, as to S. having lodged at the house for two years, and never having been away more than two or three nights at a time:

Held, that the evidence on these points was material as tending to induce the jury to give greater credit to the material fact of S. being there on the 13th of April at the time in question.

CASE

ASE reserved for the opinion of this Court by the Right Honourable the Recorder of the City of London.

At a session of the Central Criminal Court, held on the 10th of June, 1867, and following days, Thomas Tyson was tried before me on an indictment for perjury.

It was alleged in the indictment and appeared in evidence that, at the May session of the Central Criminal Court, one Owen Sullivan was tried for a robbery, and that upon that trial Tyson (a) Reported by JOHN THOMPSON, Esq., Barrister-at-Law.

REG.

v.

THOMAS
TYSON.

1867.

Perjury

Evidence.

was called as a witness on behalf of Sullivan. The indictment went on to allege that upon the trial of Sullivan it was material to ascertain whether Sullivan was or was not at a house numbered 20 in Mint-street, in the borough of Southwark, on the evening of the 13th of April, 1867, between the hours of eight o'clock and ten o'clock, and whether Sullivan had lived at same house for two years then last past, or from March, 1865, to March, 1866; and that Tyson falsely swore as such witness, first, that on the 13th of April, 1867, Sullivan came to 20, Mint-street at half-past eight in the evening, and did not go out again that evening; secondly, that Sullivan had lived in the said house for two years then last past; and thirdly, that during the whole of that time Sullivan had never been absent from the same house for more than three nights together.

Perjury was assigned upon each of the above allegations, and the prisoner was convicted on the last two.

The second and third allegations were distinctly contradicted by the oaths of two warders of the Wandsworth House of Correction, who proved that Sullivan was under their charge in that House of Correction from March, 1865, to March, 1866.

The prisoner was undefended, and a question was raised whether the averments of the defendant were material on the trial of Sullivan. Counsel for the prosecution contended that they affected Tyson's credit as a witness on Sullivan's trial.

I reserved the question for the consideration of the Court, whether the two last allegations of Tyson, upon which perjury was assigned, were sufficiently material on the trial of Sullivan to support the indictment for perjury in respect of them. The defendant is in prison awaiting judgment.

RUSSELL GURNEY, Recorder of London.

At the suggestion of the Court the case was amended by annexing the following copy of the Common Serjeant's notes of the trial of Sullivan.

William Pearce, of 12, Windsor-terrace, said :-On the 13th of April, at 8.45 p.m., I was in the Dover-road going to the train. I was passing Leicester House, felt a man seize me and pull me round, and I looked up and saw the man's face, and two others laid hold of me and pinioned my arms, rifled my pockets, took away my watch, a sovereign and 27s. silver, and then they all ran away, and I fell down. I caught the man's eyes, and am sure he is the man. I got up, ran after them to the corner of Kent-street, and lost sight of them. On the following Tuesday I saw prisoner and five others, and I at once picked him out. He said, "I was not there; it was Bandy and some other." I said, "I know there were two others."

Cross-examined: I am positive. I could not swallow anything for a fortnight, my throat was so pinched. I looked up at the man's face. I never saw him before. I did not see the faces of the others.