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St Helena had sailed at 4.00 am before the Order in Council was published that

would provide authority to the warrant. 909

At about this time the new Resident Sir George H Middleton (Burrows’

successor, appointed in 1958), recommended that the best course of action to take

would be for ‘the Ruler to commute the sentences to one of exile’. Middleton hoped

that, if this course of action was implemented, the damage the prisoners would do

through the media ‘would be short-lived’. 910 However instead he sent the Ruler a

letter on 15 December seeking his approval to return the prisoners to Bahrain

where they would resume their sentences. 911 The British Government’s eagerness

to have the prisoners returned was probably due to the knowledge that new

evidence by Sheridan would be introduced and the fear of a public backlash.

The Ruler replied by accepting the Resident’s request to return the prisoners

to Bahrain. 912 Replying to a question in the House of Commons on 19 December

about the status of the prisoners on St Helena by John Stonehouse Labour MP, the

Lord Privy Seal Edward Heath replied that the Ruler wished to have them complete

their sentences in Bahrain. 913 A debate followed on the following day and Labour

MP Denis Healy exclaimed,

The Lord Privy Seal has given no assurance that if these men are
returned to the custody of the Ruler, their sentence will not be
doubled or that their heads will not be cut off the moment they step
ashore at Bahrain. 914

909 TNA, FO 371/149133, Bernard Sheridan to J.C. McPetrie, 24 October 1960.
910 TNA, FO 371/149133, G.H. Middleton to FO, 29 November 1960.
911 TNA, FO 371/129134, G.H. Middleton to Ruler of Bahrain, 15 December 1960.
912 TNA, FO 371/149134, Translation: Ruler of Bahrain to Residency, 17 December 1960.
913 HC Deb 19 December 1960, vol 632, cols 877-78.
914 HC Deb 20 December 1960, vol 632, cols 1149-208.

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