Catalogue description Report of Giles Rooke on Joseph Bird, convicted at the 'last' Warwickshire Assizes for...

Report of Giles Rooke on Joseph Bird, convicted at the 'last' Warwickshire Assizes for sodomy. In his report Rooke states that the prisoner was 'one of the Sect calld Methodists' and had been 'addicted to the Vice for which He is condemned for 'several years past...'. There is a report from members of the Public Office, Birmingham regarding the evidence supplied by John Privett. The prisoner's son was stated to have bribed Privett to tell the magistrates that he had lied in court. Privett then came back to the magistrates and told them the statement he had just given was false and Bird had committed the crime. The magistrates are now unable to give a report as the evidence has been so confused. Grounds for clemency: the prisoner was convicted on the evidence of Privett, who stated after the trial that he had lied and then retracted that statement. Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: no mercy, as the prisoner has now confessed to the crime and acknowledges the justice of his sentence. Folios 217-220.