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Her Majesty to intervene except in the very rare event that a miscarriage of justice' might otherwise take place.
5. The only exception to this policy arose in Hong Kong in 1973 at a time when Parliament was debating the question of capital punishment in Northern Ireland. A capital sentence was passed in a case in Hong Kong and the Governor decided that there were no grounds for him to commute the sentence. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary of the time decided that to allow an execution to take place in a British Dependent Territory could have an undue influence on the
debate in Parliament. He therefore advised The Queen to
commute the sentence. It was considered not inconsistent
with the normal policy for The Queen to intervene in this way, because Hong Kong is the only territory where the retention of capital punishment has not been endorsed by an elected local legislative.
6.
The most recent executions in a dependent territory occurred in Bermuda on 2 December 1977, when two convicted murderers were
hanged. These led to serious disturbances in the course of which British troops had to be sent to Bermuda to help restore order. In Britain the executions provoked protests both within and outside Parliament from opponents of capital punishment. The Secretary of State indicated that the Government were prepared to consider changing the Creech-Jones policy if that was the wish of Parliament, but a suitable opportunity for raising the subject has not yet been found.
7.
Capital punishment can be abolished in the Dependent Territories only by an act of the legislatures of the territories concerned or by an Act of the UK Parliament (in certain terri- tories it could be abolished by an Order in Council, but this could not be done for all the territories concerned). In all of the territories retaining capital punishment except Hong Kong the decision to retain it has been confirmed by a democratically
elected local legislature.
18.
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