Elizabeth Langley (née Cass; 1863–1956) was an English seamstress and dress designer whose mistaken arrest for prostitution in 1887 became a minor cause célèbre.
As she pushed her way through the crowd on Oxford Street to go home, she was suddenly arrested by PC DR 42 Endacott, of Tottenham Court Road Police Station.
But he added the following warning: Just take my advice: if you are a respectable girl, as you say you are, don’t walk in Regent Street at night, for if you do you will either be fined or sent to prison after the caution I have given you.The clear implication is that the magistrate believed Cass to be guilty, but had persuaded Bowman to perjure herself to secure her acquittal.
Atherley-Jones, a barrister by profession, took up Cass's case and on 5 July he asked the Home Secretary Henry Matthews to order an inquiry.
The report did not make any findings as to whether the arrest was justified (calling for the evidence to be tested in a court under oath), but Sir Charles Warren concluded "I am not prepared to say that I can see any grounds for accusing PC Endacott of wilful perjury.
The Grand Jury found a true bill against PC Endacott for perjury on 13 September but the trial was postponed to the Michaelmas Term, eventually beginning on 31 October.
The inquiry and the trial had given the opportunity to PC Endacott's legal representatives to make further assaults on her character, and Llewellyn Atherley-Jones insisted his original objection had been to the actions of the magistrate.