HICK 14/16.
CONFIDENTIAL
HKIW
196
3/
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
Dis's Kelly
Рык
3100
thes P/A
2 October, 1973
At the DOPC Meeting on 11 July (DOP(73) 17th Meeting) the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary was asked to obtain figures of the growth of capital crime in Hong Kong together with an analysis of the grounds on which reprieves had been granted locally in Hong Kong in recent years.
In
Annexed is a paper giving figures on the growth of major crime, induding murder. These show a steady upward trend. The number of murder and manslaughter cases has more than doubled in five years. Also annexed is a table of murder cases which have been considered by the Governor since the last hanging took place in Hong Kong in 1966. every case, until the recent case of Tsoi, he has been able to find reasons for a reprieve. Unfortunately this does not imply that another six years is likely to pass before a similar case arises. A case in which it may well be very difficult to find any mitigating circumstances is likely to come before the Governor this autumn.
A 3/10
I am sending copies of this letter to the Private Secretaries to the other members of DOPC and to Brian Webster.
The Lord Bridges,
10, Downing Street, LONDON, SW1.
CONFIDENTIAL
(P. H. Grattan)
Private Secretary