CONFIDENTIAL
Sir Dunban Watson
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts To inve
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MP'S LETTER:: EX-CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT GODBER
1. Mr Godman Irvine MP (Conservative, Rye) wrote to Mr Ennals on 21 June about representations made to him by his constituent, Mrs Peter Godber. Mrs Godber has asked if her husband can be allowed
to write more than two letters a month; and if there was any possibility of her husband's being transferred to a prison in England. Lord Goronwy-Roberts sent Mr Godman Irvine an interim reply on 27 June.
2. Godber's appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed and his subsequent petition for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council was refused on 17 July. The Order in Council dismissing his
petition was made on. 23 July.
149) 3. We have now received Hong Kong's comments on the two issues Mrs Godber has raised. As Mr Higginson's letter CR L/M/247/75 of 17 July 1975 indicates, Mr Godber is entitled to write three letters a month and is allowed to receive all letters addressed to him. This is restrictive in comparison with British practice where prisoners are allowed to write a weekly letter with postage paid from public funds and a further letter if they pay for the postage themselves. But it would be difficult to defend giving Mr Godber letter-writing privileges not granted to other prisoners.
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4.Transfer to the United Kingdom is governed by Section 2 of the Colonial Prisoners Removal Act 1884 which provides that a prisoner may be removed to the UK if it appears to the Secretary of State, acting with the concurrence of the Hong Kong Government, that
either:
CONFIDENTIAL
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