TNAG-0931-FCO40-1149-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1980 — Page 158

Mr Knight-Smith

News Department

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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

The following are suggested answers to the 'Sunday Telegraph' correspondent:

1.

i) When was the last execution in a Dependent Territory

for murder?

Answer:

Bermuda 1977 when two men (Burrows and Tacklyn) were executed for the murder of a shopkeeper..

ii) What is HMG's policy on capital punishment in the

Dependent Territories?

Answer: The death penalty for murder remains on the Statute Books of 7 Dependent Territories (Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos). Capital punishment in the Dependent Territories is considered a matter for local Governors and their advisers in which it is generally not appropriate for the British Government to intervene.

(If asked about practice in individual cases) The Secretary of State does not advise Her Majesty to intervene in capital cases in the Dependent Territories except in the very rare event that a miscarriage of justice might otherwise take place.

Previous cases. If pressed further, you might wish to refer the correspondent to the remarks by the then Secretary of State, Dr Owen, in the Debate on the Bermuda executions on 5 December 1977 (Hansard Vol. 940, Cols. 1014-1024).

23 July 1980

R D Clift

Hong Kong and General Department