Report of Lord Kenyon on 3 individual petitions (2 from the prisoner and 1 from John...

Report of Lord Kenyon on 3 individual petitions (2 from the prisoner and 1 from John Shepherd, prosecutor) on behalf of Thomas Miller, convicted at the Court of King's Bench in January 1796, for keeping a gaming house. The petition by John Shepherd, of Hyde Street, Bloomsbury in Middlesex, is against mercy for the prisoner who he describes as having committed 'the most horrible frauds'. Shepherd asks that if the fine is paid that he be reimbursed for his costs in bringing the prosecution. There is a letter from F. Ershawe/F. Erskine[?] to William Baldwin speaking in favour of the prisoner. Grounds for clemency: repents the crime, his business will suffer if he is not released, the prosecution was done through perjury (the prosecutor makes a living by informing), others involved in such crimes are left free, his inability to pay the fine, and the plight of the prisoner's innocent and dependent wife and children who are living on a small annuity from her former husband; the father of the 2 children. Initial sentence: 12 months solitary imprisonment in the Clerkenwell House of Correction and a £500 fine (to be imprisoned until the fine is paid in full). Recommendation: no mercy. Folios 161-170.