HKG 380/1
Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
................In Confidence
DRAFT
To:-
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
(see list)
Type 1 +
From
MR STEWART
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR11
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
1. I am writing strictly for your own information to
give you the background to FCO telengram no
Mr Rowlands' letter of
and
2. The Secretary of State secured the agreement of
the Ministerial group looking into the question that
a motion should be debated in the House which would
call on the Secretary of State to review each and every
capital case in the Dependent Overseas Territories where
no reprieve was granted locally. He would then make
a recommendation to HM The Queen after taking account
of all the circumstances he considered relevant. The
group had acknowledged that this was an inferior
solution to unilateral abolition by Act of Parliament
but the lack of Parliamentary time for a Bull and the
need to act quickly ruled this out.
3. The Ministerial group's recommendation was then
discussed in Cabinet on 23 February. It was recognised
that without some change in policy, problems such as
had arisen in connection with the recent cases in
Bermuda could recur. However, Ministers were reluctant
to initiate a debate on capital punishment at a time
when feeling on the subject was running high in the UK, particularly in
ometice capitaned Northern Ireland and
•and to a lesser extent. in theuk also.
Λ
/It was
Dd 108087 400M S&K 1/77
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