HC Deb 15 June 1944 vol 400 c2132
23. Mr. Rhys Davies

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of persons sentenced to death in this country by foreign powers; and how many of these have been executed on British soil.

Mr. H. Morrison

I am informed that sentence of death has been passed on fourteen members of the United States forces by United States courts-martial in the United Kingdom. In three cases the sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment; four cases are still subject to review; and in seven cases the sentence of death has been carried out by the United States authorities in this country. In every case in which the death sentence has been carried out the offence charged has been murder; in one of the cases rape had been committed as well as murder. So far as I am aware no sentence of death has been passed in this country by the courts of any other foreign Power but their courts-martial do not try cases of murder, manslaughter or rape.

Mr. Rhys Davies

Would the right hon. Gentleman say whether all those who have been sentenced to death were negro soldiers, or whether there were any whites among them?

Mr. Morrison

I could not say without notice.