PERSONAL & CONFIDENTI AL
побел
Bil 25Hpil
expects
whe Mer Hoth. bi
rouch in th
ست
HKK 380/6
18/5
Bu in 2 Why
6 April 1977
TIJ/5
Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG KC VO HONG KONG
la
++/5.
SECTION 83P OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ORDINANCE
1. You will know that John Hobley wrote to John Stewart on 16 March about what he described as a "criminal case of some difficulty", that involving Messrs Cunningham, Thompson and Lau. I understand that Hobley wrote at your request and since he is on leave in this country I am writing to you.
(John Stewart is taking a few days leave following his visit to Hong Kong.)
2.
I referred Hobley's letter to the department's Legal Adviser in the first instance and he and Tim David were able to discuss it with Hobley himself when he called into the office at the beginning of his leave. Hobley confirmed that Section 83P of your Criminal Procedure Ordinance is based on Section 17 of the UK Criminal Appeals Act 1968. It was therefore agreed that it would be helpful to seek the views of the Home Office's Legal Advisers about the operation of Section 17. The Home Office have now advised that they would not recommend to the Home Secretary that he should base a decision on whether or not to invoke this Section in the Criminal Appeals Act on purely political considerations but that he should simply take into account considerations concerning the administration of justice.
3. You asked, according to Hobley's letter, whether you could rely on "our support" if you were to decide against referring the cases of Cunningham and Thompson to the Court of Appeal and representations were subsequently to be made against such a decision. I confess that I am not clear what degree of support you would be looking for. It does not seem to me that your requirement would be met by such support as the department could give, assuming we could see our way to putting aside the Home Office's practice in a similar situation. Nor do I imagine that support at any level in the official hierarchy would be enough. In the last resort, you would seem to need to have a Minister prepared to support a decision against referal, in Parliament. I would foresee difficulty in inviting Miristers to
ว
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL