§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what sentences of death passed by courts in the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey have been commuted to life imprisonment since 1964; where the resultant periods of imprisonment have been served in each case; and what free pardons have been granted in the same period.
§ Mr. MellorSince 1964 two persons sentenced to death in the Isle of Man and six in Jersey have been granted conditional pardons, commuting their sentences to life imprisonment. In each case the resultant sentence of imprisonment is being served in the United Kingdom. No free pardons have been granted for capital offences during the same period.
The death penalty for murder was abolished in Guernsey in 1965.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers he has to force a person sentenced to death on the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey to accept the commuting of that sentence to conditional life imprisonment if the person concerned does not accept such a change in the sentence.
§ Mr. MellorAlthough my right hon. Friend has responsibility for advising Her Majesty the Queen about the exercise of the prerogative of mercy in such circumstances, the carrying out of the sentence or substituted sentence is a matter for the island authorities. In Jersey, article 6 of the Criminal Justice (Jersey) Law 1957 provides that in the event of the commutation of a sentence of death the person concerned shall be deemed to have been sentenced to imprisonment by the court before which he was convicted. There is no similar provision in the legislation of the Isle of Man but no prisoner sentenced to death there and pardoned has been known to refuse the condition on which it has been granted. In Guernsey the death penalty for murder was abolished in 1965.