Mr Figg PS
See 62
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~HKK 385/2
see (72
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
- 8 NOV 1978
DESK OFFICE
INDEX
REGATRY
Action Taken
68
Mr Thumbs Mandrings 6/11
Que
A
pqQ
B
MISS RITA NIGHTINGALE
No
1. Mrs Barbara Castle MP has written to Dr Owen enclosing a letter and questionnaire from Mr David Lyman of the firm of lawyers repre- senting 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 question- naire is very largely the work of Mr David Hallmark who has offered his services to Miss Nightingale's defence lawyers and now repre- sents them in this country. Mr David Lyman stayed with him during
his recent visit.
4. Mr Hallmark is a solicitor from Worcester who was previously associated with the Portia Trust but has recently broken his links
with it. He has connections with Amnesty International and has specialised in drug trafficking offences in the Far East. Mr Hallmark entertains deep suspicions of the Hong Kong and Thai cus- toms and police. He considers that they are corrupt and could have set-up Rita Nightingale as a cover for their own drug trafficking activities. It would appear that Mr Hallmark is not content with
the access he has already been given to confidential documents supplied by the Hong Kong Government which support their contention that the tip-off given to the Thais was based on nothing more than a hunch by Customs Preventive Officers who maintain a regular sur- veillance of passengers at Hong Kong airport.
50 The questionnaire is tendentiously worded, seeks to cast doubt on the motives of the Hong Kong customs and police officials and strongly implies that the case was not properly investigated at the Hong Kong end. There are certainly loose ends in the case but the
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