Mrs M Friedman
4A Frognal Cardens
London NW3 6UX
233 4381
нка 380'
RE
2.51
-9DEC 1977
INDE
No
RY
Taken
HKG 380/1
December 1977
278
307
I have been asked to reply to your recent letter to the Secretary of State about the executions in Bermuda.
The administration of justice in Bermuda is an internal matter proper to the Bermudian Government. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs does not intervene in a particular case of aapital punishment unless he has grounds to believe that a serious miscarriage of justice might take place. In the cases of the two convicted murderers, Burrows and Tacklyn, the Secretary of State considered carefully all aspects of the process leading to the final confirmation of the death sentences, but could find no evidence to suggest that a miscarriage of justice had occured.
You may, however, have seen that Dr Owen told Parliament on 5 Lecember that he was prepared to review the question of capital punishment in the Dependent Territories.
WL Quantrill
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