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His Excellency,
THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG
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7189
12 May 1977
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The Petition of George William PUTTOCK, Prisoner No. 23129, now a prisoner in
Stanley Prison humbly showeth
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On 30 July 1976 your humble petitioner was convicted with Donald David BASSETT in the Supreme Court of Hong Kong of the murder of NG Fai and was sentenced to suffer death in the manner authorised by law.
That on 10 February 1977, after two days of legal argument, the appeal of your humble petitioner was dismissed and he is now a condemned prisoner awaiting execution for the offence of murder.
That your humble petitioner is seeking mercy from Your Excellency the Governor to save him from this punishment.
That your humble petitioner was born in Jarrow, England, on 28 September 1956 and is a single man, still only 20 years of age. He has two younger brothers and has come from a happy family. His relationship with his family has always been strong until he lost their strength and support when he left England. Your humble petitioner has many friends and wellwishers in his local community who have been so profoundly disturbed at the course of events as to write to express their shock that he could have committed such a crime. Extracts from some of the letters are set out below:-
"Whilst this offence of which he has been convicted is terrible let me stress that my knowledge of Billy Puttock forces me to conclude that this action is totally alien to his nature." - Edmund Nicholls, Youth Leader in charge of a South Shields Youth Centre.
R. Patterson, the Branch Chairman of a Regional Branch of the National Union of Railwaymen believes, "That the crime of which he is accused is completely out of character with his normal behaviour."
Finally, a local shopkeeper, Mrs Emily Key, expresses her individual grief as follows: "I cannot express my full feelings towards all this, to me it is unbelievable k.owing him as I do.".
That on 31 August 1972 your humble petitioner joined the Army. In March 1975 he came to Hong Kong but had never been to the Far East before.
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The offence of which he was convicted was committed at a time when a considerable amount of alcohol was present in his body. He made no attempt at his trial to conceal that he had been involved in a fight. An analysis of his blood carried out by a Consultant Forensic Pathologist, Dr LEE Fook- Kay, establishes that 110 milligrammes per 100 millilitres were present in his body as late as the time of analysis (i.e. 11 a.m. on the morning of 18 February 1976). At the time the offence occurred at about 5.30 a.m. on the said morning, Dr LEE Fook-kay estimated that the likely proportion of alcohol in your humble petitioner's blood would have been over 200 milligrammes
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