TNAG-0820-FCO40-1027-Narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 159

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HKK 385/2

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Mr Fire (awan, ; instructions from to send MA NOV 1978

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MISS RITA NIGHTINGALE

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1. Mrs Barbara Castle MP has written to Dr Owen enclosing

a letter and questionnaire from Mr David Lyman of the firm of lawyers representing Miss Nightingale in Bangkok.

2. In the light of Mr Walden's minute of 23 October this submission has been prepared in conjunction with South-East Asia Department and cleared with Hong Kong and General Department and the Legal Advisers.

3. Mrs Castle asks us to obtain answers to questions which mostly relate to the circumstances surrounding the "tip-off" which the Hong Kong customs sent to the Thai authorities and which led to Miss Nightingale's arrest and subsequent conviction. The questionnaire is very largely the work of a solicitor, Mr David Hallmark, who has offered his services to Miss Nightingale's defence lawyers and now represents them in this country. Mr David Lyman stayed with him during his recent visit.

4. A note is attached containing the department's comments on the 32 questions. It will be seen that over half of them do not, in the Legal Adviser's view, have a direct relevance. More important, we do not consider that to pursue the line of approach suggested by the questionnaire is the right way to proceed. For this reason we do not recommend that the department's comments should be handed over to Mrs Castle. 5. When Mr David Lyman discussed the case with me on 3 October he supported our proposal that we should examine, in consultation with the defence lawyers, ways in which we might be able to support at the diplomatic level a plea for a Royal Pardon. He also agreed that one possibility would be to examine the Hong Kong material already available to us to see whether any of it could be used to support Miss Nightingale's claims to innocence. Mr Lyman's letter recognises that the

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