The Bermuda Recorder

              permuba ecorb er published weekly complimentary issue special bulletin hamilton bermuda monday march 12 1973 no 1 community shocked by triple killing assassin's bullets fell governor statement by government beader sir leader mr sir richard sharpies although the weather dawned bright and clear on sunday march llth there was a cloud hanging over bermuda as the news of the assassination of his excel lency the governor sir richard sharpies reached the cars a bermuda publicb the excel b along the shoot-b capi-airb saycrs great daneb perintendent bill wright and inspector haddrell arrived in bermuda yesterday afternoon to help local police in then in vestigations these are the same two scotland yard mer who were assisting police re cently in their investigations into the murder of commis sioner george ducket t 8 edward richards & sir richard sharpies has been bermuda's governor for only 5 months he came to ber muda on thursday october 12th when he was greeted by local government officials and digni taries at an impressive ceremony at albuoy's point he was sworn in as governor the same aay at the legislative chambers and then left for his new home at government house in the official landau government leader sir ed ward richards made a short formal statement on the assas sination of his excellency the governor in a short press con ference in executive council chambers sunday afternoon walter robinson horsa through the grounds some 15-16 acres each n ; ght there was a constable on duty at the time of the assassina tion he was in government house not far from his excel lency and it was he who pave the alarm immediately after the killing road blocks were immediately set up but as vet no suspect has been detained a-^a ffi|mkbtlnbi = t_____ffw_____________n_fffiii-r t ' — i rrar ..-■: it i th__________i____________________________i__i<r - hsb 1 b *■_______£_!*' a r 3i_______l jh ba ; z 7 b5b*b**!9hl^bmhpa : zz z^^^zzz.a---a''^zzzj^^^^^^^kwz-^a : l_y - jp-^a v - _■ z~jz s^^lubea : - e|§|l^a ' -_-_--____---___ af_\i i9 n _■ t f 9____________f^^l___l r rtb fe_fa?j w - wl bas fet=b^__rfl b ffr horsa occurred on satur day night at 11.45 while the governor was taking a walk through government house grounds following an informal dinner party which he and lady sharpies had hosted tor some 1 0 guests months ago at a press conference held yesterday afternoon at police headquarters local and inter national press were greeted by government information offi cer gavin shorto and pijice press liason inspector hubert simmons in his statement sir edward noted sir richard sharpies and his a.d.c capt hugh sayers have been murdered the news of this horrible thing has shocked most of us not only throughout our island but throughout the entire world his excellency's first official function was performed two weeks after his arrival whc-'i he opened the new session of the house of parliament since that time he and lady sharpies have lent their pres ence to many local functions as patrons and as participants they were just beginning tc weave themselves into the fabric of bermuda socetv and had not been here for half a year heath's government in june 1970 mr richard sharpies was appointed minister of state home office mr sharpies has been conservative membe r of parliament for sutton and cheam since november 1954 and held ministerial office in the conservative government from 1961 to 1964 as joint par liamentary secretary to the ministry of pensions and na tional insurance and then as parliamentary secretary to the ministry of public bui'd ing and works in december 1967 mr heath appointed hint a vice-chairman of the con servative party organisation police revealed that they have questioned many people in connection with the shooting however they did not reveal any more information tw scotland yard men chief su by jennifer smith mr shorto read a short re lease from government on the assassination in the release government revealed that the acting governor after consul tation with the government leader felt that the killing consituted an emergency situ ation in which the police wuuld need additional powers winch can only be conferred on them following a proclamation of a state of emergency the act ing governor has signed such a proclamation our country has always been a peaceful one this peace has been shattered a visibly shaken sir edward continued this government will not tol erate this evil whoever this person or these persons are whatever and wherever they are they must be brought to justice the full force of the law has now been mobilised these men or man will be brought to justice it is fairly well known that the governor was in the habit of taking a stroll along witfe rak ... v htt_h mpv t « e ' " j_f ' ■ '■"* fc 1 iheiijmi r v it : j^'^^^^_hll h*-*j***tzi " 1 _________■_■ t_il__i____^m _______! p *» fl b '**' ii(^hplh_k ._■ t ""'- zmj h i jtzm it ___________ _____________■ *■*_** ____^ ' _____ flr " j f___v_l ' •; 3r : - ""*' . \ •, . , ' fl i b jl i l l k i _______ 9____b b sir richard was a different kind of governor one who felt that he must be available and in touch with the people to bring his office within reach he had the visitor's book moved into the government house foyer anyone was welcome to enter the building and sign he and lady sharpies shied away from too much pomp and ceremony preferring to be ac cepted for themselves sir richard sharpies and his a.d.c have been here only a brief period of time t is unthinkable that anyone could wish them harm the emergency powers con ferred upon government by such a proclamation give them the right to make regulations as they see fit so far they have made only one regulation giv ing the police the right to stop anyone from leaving the isard and to detain that person for a period of 48 hours this period may be renewed this is the second state of emergency that has been call ed in bermuda the first wut following the 1968 riots undei law a state of emergency may last for a period of two weeks mr sharpies began his career in the regular army he was born in london in august 1916 and was educated at eton and the royal military college sandhurst being com missioned in the w el s h guards he gained an immedi ate award of the military cross at boulonge in 1949 took part in the sicilian and italian cam • continuing sir edward said i take this opportunity to ex press the deepest sympahv to lady sharpies and her family and the family of capt hugh sayers the following is a short biog raphy of his excellency following the reading of his statement sir edward answer ed a few questions ... he noted that it was difficult to say a the moment what the motiva tions for the murders were and he added that he was com pletely surprised by the assasi nation saying it was a great shock to hear the news last night biography of sir richard sharpies o.b.e m.c m.p on the formation of mr how any cause however ur gent can be advanced or justi fied by this sort of ruthless assassination which threatens all our lives sir edward richards government leader bermuda continued on page 2 looking back our hearts and sympathies reach out to lady sharpies and her children in this time of her most acute distress we can only hope that the perpetrators of this foul deed will learn that this reversion to the law of the jungle will not be tolerated by the people of this country ' the governor's wife lady sharpies is presently under police protection as is the gov ernment leader sir edward richards it is understood that the governor's sons david and christopher are presently on their way here from rio de janerio in their father's yacht it is believed that his tow daughters fiona and miranda are presently in england at the press conference government information offi cer gavin shorto stated . there is to the best of my knowledge no connection be bi s_^ii_s_4m vi 1^1 b_tf b n bl jshbe v*si l^______________l ei^^l _^** r f j***\wwm _____ f j^^f^a|s.^b bb i *_____& h h_^_____i p ~^ f=lt 8l-m_^_b i_h : b bfesh^b 5 ' - - i^^l**wmk h 1 j|§5f i^b b^fc^hb^^l e^^lt b hai e - b ■'■■" in concluding sir edward commented that the last time he had seen lady sharpies funeral plans were not yet finalized members of the house of assembly will be meeting tomorrow but there will be no debate on the budget as had been originally planned b * ' '"" jb l r * ■ a^l v i ______^^ _____■ v • • • leader of the opposition mr walter robinson in his state ment on the killing of his ex cellency the governor sir richard sharpies and his a.d.c capt hugh sayers stated sir richard sharpies tween the murder of commis sioner duckett and this killing the whole of bermuda is appalled at the vicious and senseless destruction of human lives in the murders of his ex cellency and capt hugh say ers and it is difficult to see bermuda's greatest tragedy going out on the streets yesterday i approached a mixed segment of the community as to their feelings regarding the tragedy which took place saturday night the following comments are the feelings expressed by those to whom i spoke who unanimously abhorred the they had been saying wnat a lovely clean beautiful island it was that there seemed to be little crime here the people were so kind and friendly and they knew that these things were happening all over the world but that they found it hard to believe that such a ter rible thing could happen in such a lovely island they add ed if he had only been hore five months he had no time to make enemies walter robinson m.p first the police commissioner now the governor are they connected ? among them being an elderly lady who said all i can sav is that i am short of words i really don't know what to say the bible says accuse no m^r but someone did it and i hope they are found crime with the unsolved murder of police commissioner george duckett six months ago still fresh in the minds of many bermudians these latest hor rible killings cannot help but make us wonder if they are in some way connected scotland yard the same two men who assisted in the inves tigation of the murder of com missioner duckett have been called in to assist in these at est assassinations they ar rived in the island sunday afternoon i feel he was a good governrr and had not been here long enough to offend anyone » ■ * a young lady said the whole thing is terrible an j that's all i can say * * * his excellency the governor sir richard sharpies and lady sharpies as they leave the secretariat following his swearing in as governor in october by elaine ellingham * • * a bermuda businessman commented i was shocked surprised i think he waa a good governor and i find it completely unbelievable i have heard rumours that it was a political crime but these are just rumours he added i think they should have had more security in the grounds but as usual the stable door will be shut after the horse h^s run away the facts are these lotii killings happened on a satur day night there was a police ball taking place on both nights these two points cf similarity cannot be overlook ed however bermuda's gov ernor had been here only 5 short months and was perhaps virtually unknown to many ol bermuda's citizens while commissioner duckett had been here some 3 years his position naturally carried with it a certain amount of pers mal risk prior to his coming to ber muda to take up his post as governor of the island the late sir richard sharpies who was assassinated with his a.d.c captain hugh sayers and the governor's great dane horsa in the grounds of gov ernment house late saturday night was kind enough to spare a period from his busy sched ule in getting ready to come to bermuda about which he was very enthusiastic to give an informal interview at the house of commons to our re porter on the spot the late sir richard was well aware of the political and social climat in bermuda and he left the im pression that he was a charm ing man who would be deal cated to any job he undertook the sir richard sharpies was a member of parliament for sutton and cheam for eighteen and a half years up until his taking up his post in bermuda following is a copy of the interview which was published in 7th of october's edition of this newspaper — just a week before sir richard's arrival in bermuda the entrance smilingly let me in to the central lobby where i was greeted by our governor designate sir richard sharpies who was saying fare well to his private secretary who was preceding him to bermuda an elderly man said my two canadian tourists sticll opinion is that it was not a ing along in the bermuda sun planned crime ; but committed shine did not feel competent to by some irresponsible person comment but they said that captain hugh sayers adc coming up out of victoria underground one faces the burly burly of this very busy part of london with a plethora of taxis buses and people taking a taxi down past westminster abbey with its usual queue of tourists crowd ing into its century old edifice then alighting at st stephen's special qaajuui this special issue of the bermuda recorder is being made available to the public through the generosity ot bermuda's business firms listed on pages 3 and 6 these firms are expressing their sorrow over the death of his excellency the gov ernor in this positive manner we the bermuda recorder feel that this is only one indication of the esteem that bermuda had for her newest governor we would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest sympathy to lady sharpies and her family and to the parents of capt hugh sayers on behalf of the directors management and staff of the bermuda recorder captain hugh ralph lo'ae sayers of the welsh guards was killed eight days short of his 27th birthday he was edu cated at sherbourne dorset he was the son of col and mrs c l sayers of newbury berkshire and his father is black rod in the british par liament his grandfather admiral sir ralph leathan was former governor of ber muda captain sayers came to bermuda to be the new gover nor's aide-de-camp from seiv ice with the welsh guards in northern ireland he had stated unofficially that he ex pected to return to his regi ment after perhaps a year's service with his excellency we found a seat in the lobby and i would say the only sounds that could be heard were those of the construction going on outside of course the house has not yet con vened hence the silence sir richard is a slim distinguished looking man greying at the temples i found him very easy to talk to and thanked him for finding time from his extremely busy schedule to see me he was busy clearing up his affairs connected with his position as a member of par liament * * » a telephonist said that she thought it was an absolutely horrible crime and to think that three murders could take place in bermuda in such an appallingly short space of time certainly made people very ap prehensive statements made at the time of commissioner duckett s murder proclaimed that this date will go down in bermuda's history as the day crime took on an added dimension the event was labelled a brutal murder by chief superin tendent bill wright of scotland yard exclusive inerview by elaine ellingham from london entrance to the house of com mons although these buildings are blackened with age there is still a majesty about them which attracts hundreds of visitors the policeman at a lady motorist said that she was so upset that she could hardly talk about it to think * * * the first question i asked him naturally was had he chief supt wright along with inspector haddrell of continued on page 2 continued on p?.ge 2