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carried
He therefore L
It was considered
an undue influence on the debate in Parliament. recommended The Queen to commute the sentence. not inconsistent with the normal policy for The Queen to intervene in this way, because Hong Kong is the only territory where the retention of capital punishment has not been endorsed by an elected local legislative.
hanged bung.
6. The most recent executions in a dependent territory occurred in Bermuda on 2 December 1977, when two convicted murderes were These led to serious disturbances in the course of which British troops had to be sent to Bermuda to help restore order. In Britain the executions provoked protests both within and outside Parliament from opponents of capital punishment. The Secretary of State indicated that the Government were prepared to consider changing the Creech-Jones policy if that was the wish of Parliament, though a suitable opportunity for raising the subject has not yet been found.
7. Capital punishment can be abolished in the Dependent Territories only by an act of the legislatures of the territories concerned or by an Act of the UK Parliament (in certain territories it could be abolished by an Order in Council, but this could not be done for all the territories concerned). In all of the territories retaining
retain it capital punishment, the decision to do so has been confirmed by a democratically elected local legislative, except in Hong Kong (see paragraph 5 above).
8.
A
ure
During the public debate that followed last December's executions in Bermuda, some critics of the Government's icy have quoted the
in 1969 Nairn case in the Bahamas as an example to show that the Creech-Jones policy has not always been followed. In this case, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary of the day decided that it could be a mis- carriage of justice to allow a convicted murderer in the Bahamas to be executed, because of the mental state of the accused. He was not able to convince the Governor of this; however, the Governor decided that it would nonetheless be inhumane to allow the execution to take place because of the delay in carrying out the sentence. He therefore commuted the sentence. Thus no breech of the Creech-Jones policy
occurred.
9. There are at present three capital cases under consideration in the dependent territories. In two of these the Greenaway case in Montserrat and the Johnson case in Bermuda - there is a very strong probability that the sentences will be commuted. In the third case,
that of Clayton Raynor accused of arson and murder at the time of
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