CONFIDENTIAL
A
BACKGROUND
1. Police Inspector MacLennan shot himself just before he
was to be arrested for homosexual offences. The peculiar
circumstances of his death led the Coroner's jury to bring
in an open verdict. There were allegations that he might have
been murdered. The Governor set up a Commission of Inquiry.
2. The Commission's Terms of Reference did not include a
review of the law and no comment on it was made.
of Reference and Conclusions attached).
3.
(Terms
It happens that the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission is
studying the law on homosexuality but it decided to do so
before the Inquiry and not because of the MacLennan affair.
Hong Kong and General Department Foreign and Commonwealth Office
17 December 1981
CONFIDENTIAL