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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: BERMUDA
HKG 3861
RECEIVER
- 5 DEC 1977
3.51
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1. I have been asked to provide as a matter of urgency a draft statement and notes for supplementaries for the Secretary of State's use in case there is an emergency debate today on the case of the two men sentenced to death in Bermuda.
The sentences are due to be carried out at 8.00 a.m. local
time (midday British time) tomorrow, Friday, 2 December.
2. I submit a draft statement and notes for supplementaries.
3. We have only been able to trace one case in which,
despite the Creech-Jones doctrine, the Secretary of State
intervened and ordered a commutation against the advice of
the Governor and his Prerogative of Mercy Committee. This
was in 1969 in the Bahamas in the case of Rupert Ezra Nairn.
Mr Michael Stewart was at that time convinced that the mental
state of the accused was such as to justify a reprieve. A
delegation consisting of Sir Arthur Galsworthy and
Sir James McPetrie flew to the Bahamas and persuaded the Governor to grant a reprieve on compassionate grounds
related to the time factor.
Nairn was later removed to the
United Kingdom to serve his imprisonment here. I also attach
a note on the number of reprieves and executions in dependent territories in recent years.
1 December 1977
Cc:
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts PS/Mr Rowlands
Mr Cortazzi
Mr Stratton Mr Duff (WIAD)
a. B. Steent
J A B Stewart
Hong Kong & General Dept