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Mr Royle
hanged as a deterrent to other potential murderers.
said that that was not the way that he understood the situation.
We had been told that Tsoi should not be reprieved because his
crime was worse than those of murderers who had been reprieved.
But to have allowed the law to take its course in Hong Kong would
have led to a major row in Parliament. There would have been a
vote of censure on the Secretary of State which might have been
carried. Mr Woo said that some Labour MPs had also made this
point to him. Mr Royle concluded by saying that the most recent
figures on violent crime that he had seen appeared to indicate
that its rise was now levelling out.
Distribution:
PS
PS/Mr Royle
HKIOD (3)
Sir D Watson
Mr Wilford
Mr Youde
Sir M MacLehose
Hong Kong (Personal)
Mr Holland
Mr Cambridge, FRD Mr Rushford
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