CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL
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Deputy Governor's Office
Hamilton 5-24. Bermuda
DGO 1/1
HSH Stanley Esq CMG
FCO
London
Decar Harry,
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
M. Stewart
18 May, 1977
Very belevant to the head Submins won you are preparing
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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 51 - 1 JUN 1977
HKG 380/1
There has still been very little reaction by the general public here to my decision about Burrows and Tacklyn. This is not altogether surprising. In the first place, the members of the Prerogative of Mercy Committee were probably right when they judged that most Bermudians feel the law should take its course in these two cases. In the second place, responsible editorial and other newspaper comment urging restraint was helpful. And finally, Tacklyn's application for
course made the matter seem rather
special leave to appeal has of remote.
2. At the instigation of its Pembroke branch (some of whose leaders were once Black Beret Cadre members) the PLP has nevertheless announced its opposition to capital punishment. It now plans to campaign against this generally, and to petition The Queen specifically on behalf of Burrows and Tacklyn. The line taken in its campaign will be emotive and may at times, whether by intention or not, be racial and divisive. Tension will thus almost inevitably occur if and when a date for the executions has to be fixed. Were there for any reason a series of postponements, it could grow to a point at which it had security implications.
3.
We must obviously do whatever we can to safeguard against a situation of this kind. One idea has occurred to me. It may be unorthodox, perhaps even improper, but I am anyway putting it forward.
A.
My understanding is that in the Hong Kong case some years ago when he advised Her Majesty to grant a reprieve despite the Governor's earlier decision that the law should take its course, the then Secretary of State (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) did so because he might otherwise have lost a
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