TNAG-0486-FCO40-551-Review-of-death-sentence-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 55

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CONFIDENTIAL #

機密

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mutation needs to be considered

(a)

(b)

It is an established ground for com- mutation that if, notwithstanding the jury's verdict, there is a scintilla of doubt as to the accused's guilt, then, the law should not take its course. In a case such as this, where the prosecution case was not a strong one, it is not difficult to raise in one's

mind a scintilla of doubt as to whether one would have said "guilty", if not as to actual guilt. On balance, and after careful reflection, I do not think I have any reasonable doubt as to Chan's guilt. On the other hand, I can only read the trial judge's remarks (quoted in paragraph 17) as meaning that he would not have found Chan guilty on the evidence before the jury.

A bizarre crime such as this inevitably raises, in the mind of a layman anyway,

a notion that the accused must be abnor- mal, even though not medically suffering from psychotic illness.

G. F. 323

CONFIDENTIAL # 2