TNAG-0486-FCO40-551-Review-of-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 148

CONFIDENTIAL

HOME OFFICE

Whitehall, LONDON S.W.I Telephone: WHitehall 8100, ext. 359

Telex: 24986

Miss

PHIL

7/1

See tel to Каз Каз

int

LAST

ROF.

(257)

Our reference:

Your reference:

NEXT

REF.

A C Stuart Esq

Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept

Foreign & Commonwealth Office King Charles Street

LONDON SW1A 2AH

then PLA

M.01

'7 JAN 1974

Aes 2/1

3 January 1974

HICK

Dean Stuart,

Thank you for your letter of 20 December about the case of Chan Hon-tong who is under sentence of death in Hong Kong.

I have now read all the papers which you enclosed, and which I now return, and I fully agree with your appreciation of the case. If one were certain that the prisoner did commit the crime, it would be difficult to find anything in the circum- stances of the case which would justify clemency, but one is bound to feel uneasy about the prosecution's total reliance on the scientific evidence, which as you say does not prove that the prisoner had been in contact with the deceased at the time of her death. While it seems clear that the prisoner was not where he claimed to be at the material time, the prosecution conspicuously failed to adduce any direct evidence to show that he was at or near the scene of the crime.

The totality of the evidence adds up to a number of suspicious circumstances which taken together point in the direction of the accused's guilt, but I think there must remain a lingering doubt in the absence of more positive evidence linking him with the scene of the crime. If similar circumstances had arisen here, I think we should have felt bound to advise the

Home Secretary to recommend commutation on the ground that there was a scintilla of doubt which made it inadvisable to allow the law to take its course.

The philosphy of interference because of the 'scintilla of doubt' is summarised briefly in the following extract from the written evidence submitted by the Home Office to the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment in 1949:-

"Very occasionally cases occur in which the sentence of

death is commuted because the Home Secretary feels that despite the verdict of the jury there is a scintilla of doubt as to the prisoner's guilt. In some such cases the Home Secretary may receive information which was not before the court and tends to throw some doubt on the prisoner's guilt, but even where there is no new information it is thought right that if the

Home Secretary feels the slightest doubt, the prisoner should be given the benefit of it. Such cases are rare

CONFIDENTIAL