TNAG-0400-FCO40-446-Review-of-the-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 52

resulting from the reckless use of a lethal

weapon in furtherance of robbery.

In the light of the strong feelings expressed in

the recent Parliamentary debate on the death

penalty and in view of the likely imminent

abolition of the penalty in Northern Ireland,

Sir Alec is urgently considering with his colleagues

whether the death penalty should also be abolished

in Hong Kong, a territory where the legislature

is not and cannot be elected. Sir Alec considers

that it would be wrong to allow the law to take

might its course in this case when the penalty is likely

to be abolished in the Colony in the near future.

He accordingly advises that Your Majesty should

accept the petition of the prisoner and that the

sentence should be commuted to one of 20 years

imprisonment.

M' Acland

to advise

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