Rey
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
A
DRAFT
To:-
C
SUBMISSION
Type 1 +
From
DSR 11
W62
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
5
In Confidence
MISS RITA NIGHTINGALE
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. Mrs Castle asks us to obtain answers to the 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 con-
viction.
C
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 Depart- ment and the Legal Advisers.
3.
The questionnaire is very largely the work of 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.
Mr Hallmark is a solicitor from Worcester who was associ-
ated 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 customs 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 surveill- ance of passengers at Hong Kong airport. The questionnaire is tendentiously worded, seeks to cast doubt on the motives of
/the
Dd 427265 500M 5/77 905275
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