Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret. Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
DRAFT
LETTER
To:-
Edmund M Johnston Esq 2 Eton Street PLYMOUTH
DSR11
Type 1 +
From
Secretary of State
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
...................................................................................In Confidence
I am sorry I have not been able to reply earlier to your letter of 10 December about the executions in Bermuda but I have been away for a short break and wanted to
reply to you personally.
Bermuda has almost complete internal self-government and the administration of justice is an internal matter, under the control of the Bermudian Government. Under the policy which has been accepted for many years by successive British Governments, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary can only intervene in a particular case of capital punishment if he has grounds to believe there has been a miscarriage
of justice. In the cases of the two convicted murderers. Burrows and Tacklyn, I could find no evidence to suggest that a miscarriage of justice had occurred. The fact that I am a convinced abolitionist was not something I could
take into account.
I do, however consider, as I told the House of Commons on 5 December, that I think the House should
reflect on the underlying issue of principle posed by the retention of the death penalty in dependent territories.
AJID
Dd 108087 400M S&K 1/77