Owen: Justice had been done

The man with arguably the greatest influence over whether Erskine Burrows and Larry Tacklyn would hang was UK Foreign Secretary David Owen.

As part of his investigation into the events of 1977, Jonathan D. Smith reached out to Lord Owen, who now sits in the House of Lords of the UK Parliament.

Responded

The former foreign secretary has responded with a unique insight into the final days of the two condemned men.

Mr Smith explained: “David Owen was the Labour Party Foreign Secretary and his role became critical as he was in a position to advise the Queen on whether the two convicted men should be granted clemency; Bermuda being an Overseas Territory.

“But he took the position at the time that justice had been done and there was nothing he could do to intervene, and the men were hanged.”

Mr Smith said: “The backdrop to all the decision-making between the Bermuda government, the Governor (Sir Peter Ramsbotham) and the UK is an intriguing one.

Critical

“In 2001, the late Sir Peter did an interview in which he was very critical of David Owen, and so a couple of months ago I wrote to Lord Owen to ask him if he could explain why Sir Peter was so critical of his decision making.

“Lord Owen replied with a full explanation as to what he said at the time, and what advice he gave the Queen, and why. So that will all come out in the book.”