keeping the death penalty, a leading human rights activist says.

Earlier this month Rudolph Leroy West was sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of his wife, Rochelle West, whom he stabbed repeatedly inside the Chamber of Commerce building.

Governor Lord Waddington has asked the Chief Justice for a written report on the West case, which will be sent to the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.

After consulting the committee, the fate of 27-year-old West will then lie in the Governor's hands.

Although not allowed to campaign on individual cases in Bermuda, Ms Clare Hatcher, chairperson of Amnesty International, can comment generally on the issues surrounding the death penalty.

"The death penalty goes against the grain of penal policy of reform and rehabilitation. It is the law of retaliation. It is the eye for an eye argument,'' she said.

Ms Hatcher said misconceptions and a lack of strong Government leadership were responsible for maintaining the death sentence in Bermuda, which she said was the only British colony to have the penalty.

"A lot of people support the death sentence because they think it stops people committing crime, but studies do not back this up. The real deterrent is being caught,'' said Ms Hatcher.

Government committees examined the issue in the 1970s, but they were divided in their opinions.

"Since then there has not been any other proper informed consultation or debate. There was a Referendum, but that was going directly to the people, other countries set up a Commission to gather hard evidence.'' Although the Referendum backed maintaining the death sentence, Ms Hatcher pointed out that voters were given no alternatives to the penalty.

A survey in June 1990 by the Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment found that given a straight choice between keeping or abolishing the death sentence, 65 percent favoured keeping it.

However, 70 percent of those questioned said they would be willing to support an alternative of 25 years prison with no parole, with the convict working in a prison industry with his wages sent to the victim's family.

Ms. Hatcher added: "One of the problems is that there has not been a recent Commission into the issue and no leadership shown on the issue. It is an issue for Government.

"Bermuda is out of step with existing colonies and out of step with the rest of the world. The trend is turning.'' She said it was not a question of going "soft'' on crime or lacking sympathy with victims of crime and Amnesty recognised the need to punish offenders, but human rights stretched to the "worst and best of us''.