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THE OSCAR SLATER CASE.
6. The Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Scotland (Paper C.P.- 265 (28)) recommending that an ex gratia payment of £6,000 should be made to Oscar Slater, who
was convicted of murder and sentenced to death
at the High Court of Judiciary, Edinburgh, on the 6th May, 1909, the sentence being commuted to
penal servitude for life, who was liberated on licence on the 14th November, 1927, having then completed 18 years' imprisonment, and who se
conviction and sentence had been quashed on the 20th Instant by the High Court of Judiciary on
the ground that the Judge at the trial failed to
direct the Jury to put out of their minds certain evidence regarding Slater's disreputable relations
with the female members of his household.
After discussion, the Cabinet agre ed
That the Secretary of State for Scotland should endeavour to secure a settlement of this question on the basis of an
ex gratia payment of £5,000
to Oscar Slater, but, if
necessary, should have authority to give up to £6,000.
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