1
hanged as a deterrent to other potential murderers. Mr Rovle
said that that was not the way that he understood
tion.
We had been told that Tooi should not be reprieved because, hin
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 MP's 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.