TNAG-0820-FCO40-1027-Narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 190

TILLEKE & GIBBINS,R.O.P., BANGKOK

CONTINUATION SHEET NO..................NDIAN

2

10th October 1978

In my view, when analyzing the court case in retrospect, I can not fault too much the guilty finding of the Court. We had only Rita's own story with very little corroborating evidence, and it just wasn't enough to meet the burden of convincingly explaining away Rita's possession of the heroin.

Whilst not agreeing with the Court, I do not believe there was a denial of a fair trial to Rita. However, given the additional evidence which Mr. Duncan of the Foreign Office just informed me of, plus that which he did not tell me, it is possible that enough doubt may have been created as to cause the Court to give Rita the benefit of the doubt.

As a result of our meeting of October 3 1978, Mr. Duncan of the Foreign Office said he would seek permission to allow us more detailed access to Foreign Office files and information applicable to this case. Hopefully we will be able to review documents in detail and copy the pertinent ones for submission to the Thai authorities when we file for executive clemency or a pardon. I was encouraged by his current conclusion that Rita probably did not know she was carrying heroin, which of course is the limit of enquiry.

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I have spoken with the Thai authorities and they have informed me that they consider the past actions and attitudes of the Foreign Office in this matter to be, in their words, "most correct" for which they were very pleased. They also are much aware of the universal interest in Rita's case in the U.K. with the attendant pressures such attention imposed on the Foreign Office. I have also established that there is no predisposition in the Thai Government, with the exception of the Director General of the Department of Corrections, to ignore Foreign Office interest and requests for assistance.

It would be prudent to remind you that the Thai Embassy in London was not aware that the British Foreign Office had any previously undisclosed information or evidence bearing on Rita's case. To the contrary, they say they were told there was none. They said they would be more than willing to try to find a face-saving way out for everyone, but that the next move was up to the British Foreign Office to make either an informal or formal approach to the Thai Government.

It is my thought that given sufficient justification, the Thai Government would find a way to release Rita, and, in my experience in dealing with the Thai, often the best way to find out how is to ask for their advice after informing them of all the facts available. They would be hard put to in effect overrule the Courts unless and until new evidence is placed before them which was not available to the Court at the time of the trial. As I suggested to Mr. Duncan, the Foreign Office is now in a position to intervene, should it choose to do so, but that it should act quietly and personally, rather than publically. This suits the Thai manner of avoiding confrontations and seeking solutions informally.

In order to determine how best to proceed, we must know as much as possible and so we have prepared the series of questions attached to which we would be most grateful for response by the Foreign Office.

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Cont'd