Letter: Crime and punishment in the State of Georgia

Mr Donald Stark
Wednesday 05 April 1995 23:02 BST
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Sir: How is it that a convicted murderer such as Nick Ingram can hope to fall back on the British people and expect them to step into a different country's affairs to extricate him from a situation of his own making?

Mr Ingram has had a full and fair trial in the eyes of a country that prides itself on its judicial system's fairness, and at the end of it, a jury unanimously decided that he was indeed guilty of murder. For the British government to intervene would be wrong as an ethical point, and would also set a precedent to others claiming rights from this country.

It is clearly stated in your article (4 April) that Mr Ingram holds US citizenship, and it is therefore no business of this country whether the US should meet out punishment according to its written constitution on one of its own number. It is not within the rights of this country even to suppose that it should influence the outcome of a crime committed, dealt with and involving solely the US and its citizens.

That Mr Ingram should try to escape his proper punishment by trying to involve this country is especially reprehensible, and it is only right that John Major has resisted the pressure placed upon him.

Yours faithfully,

DONALD STARK

London, SW1

4 April

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