OVERNOR Sir Richard Sharples and his Aide-de-Camp Captain Hugh Sayers were cut down in a murderous fusillade as they strolled outside Government House late on the night of March 10, 1973.

Aside from those bare-bone facts, for more than two-and-a-half years Bermudians had little idea as to who had planned and carried out the unprecedented and audacious attack.

Sharples' successor, Canadian-born British political and media personality Sir Edwin Leather, had presided over a near total news blackout on the Government House murders ? which claimed the most high-profile victims in a 1972/73 murder spree that left a total of five people dead.

Both here and internationally, wild and uninformed speculation continued to fill the vacuum left by the absence of genuine news. At various times the Irish Republican Army, international drug smugglers and even the small British anarchist cell the Angry Brigade were all named in print as the likely perpetrators of the Government House slayings.

By 1975 the suspected gunmen were already behind bars for long terms on other charges. Although he had reluctantly agreed to reconvene inquests into the murder of Police Commissioner George Duckett and the killings of supermarket executives Victor Rego and Mark Doe, Leather continued to drag his feet on reopening the Government House inquiry.

Throughout 1975 Leather privately cajoled Attorney General Gerald Collett to draw up charges in the Duckett and Shopping Centre killings which ? in his view ? would preclude any need to see justice done in the Government House murders. The apprehensive Governor complained to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office that evidence made public at an inquest into the Government House killings might open a "Pandora's box", jeopardising Bermuda's internal security situation. The FCO had little sympathy for his position. And Leather was finally persuaded by the Attorney General, Police Commissioner L.M. (Nobby) Clark and Bermuda Cabinet Ministers that the Government House killings could not be circumvented indefinitely. He reluctantly lifted the inhibition on the inquest into the double-murder in November, 1975.

inquest ? opened and adjourned indefinitely in the days following the March, 1973 killings of Sir Richard, 56, and Captain Sayers, 26 ? reconvened at Magistrates' Court on November 25. Senior Magistrate James Astwood, acting in his capacity as the island's Coroner, addressed the nine-man jury on both their terms of reference and their legal duty.

"Sir Richard Sharples was our Governor and he was shot and killed at Government House on March 10, 1973," said Mr. Astwood. "Captain Sayers was his ADC. He was in company with the Governor and he was also shot.

"It has been some time between the killings of these two men and this inquiry. You are not to speculate about the delay. The reasons are the police and the Commissioner have been pursuing their inquiries. These have now gone a long way and they are prepared to put before you the evidence they have so far unearthed."

The Coroner explained to the jury that its purpose was to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two men and if those circumstances met the legal definition of murder ? the premeditated intent to kill.

"We are dealing with a very heinous crime," said Mr. Astwood. "This is a situation where you have been called on to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of our head of Government. There is no one who holds a higher position and therefore, in my view, this is a very serious matter.

"Before inquiring into this, I must tell you that you must have no sympathy with Sir Richard Sharples or his family. You are to be dispassionate. You have heard a great deal and read a great deal about the deaths of these men. You must disregard all that you have heard up to now. You must decide purely on the evidence that you hear in the court in the next few days."

Detective Constable Franklin Deallie, assigned to security duty at Government House on the night of the killings, told the inquest what he had witnessed. He arrived at Government House at 10 p.m. for a shift that lasted until midnight, noticing four cars parked in the driveway in front of the building.

Aware there was a dinner party in progress, Dc Deallie contacted the Police Central Division Headquarters that everything was running smoothly.

Armed with a flashlight, he patrolled the outside of the house for 15 minutes and saw and heard nothing unusual. At 10.40 p.m. he had a check visit from Inspector Sheehan.

At 11 p.m. he sent the OK signal to Police Headquarters again and performed another patrol outside Government House, returning to the front of the building at 11.20 p.m. to find the Governor showing pictures of his yacht to dinner guests.

Shortly after 11.30 the Governor and his ADC went to the main door of Government House to see the dinner guests off the premises. When they left, Dc Deallie made an entry in his log and signalled to Headquarters. The Governor came across the entrance hall and told the officer he was taking his dog, a garrulous Great Dane called Horsa, for a walk. The time was now about 11.45 p.m. A couple of minutes later Captain Sayers walked briskly past the officer to join the Governor, closing the front door behind him.

"It was soon after that that I heard three shots, very loud, with a pause between the first and the last two," said Dc Deallie. "They came quite quickly together . . . (Then) someone said, 'Help me, help me'.

"I realised something serious had happened. I pushed the alarm button behind me and went outside.

"I saw the Governor on the ground, crawling towards the front door. He was on the edge of the grass with the steps behind him. He was dragging himself with his left arm, holding his right arm across his chest.

"I saw the dog stumbling towards the steps."

Dc Deallie said he took one look at the mortally wounded Governor and went back into the house to call for help. Blood, the officer told the inquest, had been bubbling up Sharples' throat and running down his face and shirt front.

"I was badly shaken and remember telling the maid, 'The Governor has been shot'," said Dc Deallie.

The officer rang Police Headquarters to tell them what had happened. He then went back outside after talking to the Duty Officer and found someone had placed a cushion under the head of the Governor, who was now lying on the tarmac outside the front door.

Dc Deallie then saw Captain Sayers lying face down on the top of the stairs leading down to Government House grounds to the north.

The officer told the inquest the Governor was in the habit of walking Horsa late at night and if Sharples was not accompanied by either Captain Sayers or his wife, Pamela, he himself would go with them.

Crown Counsel Alistair Gunning, who presented the evidence at the inquest, read a statement from Maria Dela Torre, who was cook at Government House at the time of the shootings. She had since returned to her home in Spain with husband Latino Dela Torre, the former Government House butler.

Mrs. Torre said she and her husband had worked for the Sharples family for four years and accompanied them to Bermuda when Sir Richard had taken up his position as Governor in October, 1972. She described the couple as "good people" and excellent employees.

The night of the murders she had prepared a dinner party for 12 guests. After cooking the meal she went to watch a film on television in her room. At about 11.30 she heard the sound of guests' cars leaving Government House.

"Then I heard the shots," said Mrs. Torre. "They sounded like fireworks. I heard five shots. It sounded like a man with two guns or two people with a gun each. The shots came too quickly to be from one gun.

"On hearing the shots, I went quickly to the window overlooking the front door and opened it. I saw Sir Richard staggering towards the front door. He took two steps and fell to the ground.

"I did not see the ADC or the dog from the bedroom window. It appeared to be quite dark in the front of the house, the only light was coming from the (open) front door."

Mrs. Torre said her husband ran downstairs and she went to get Lady Sharples, who was in her bedroom not feeling too well.

The cook then went outside and found her husband holding Sir Richard's head, comforting the dying Governor. Latino Torre then put a cushion underneath the Governor's head but Mrs. Torre had the impression that Sharples was dead by this point.

Mrs. Torre said she heard or saw nothing else, neither did she hear anyone running away from the house.

Former Bermuda Police Constable Kenneth Van Thall, then serving with London's Metropolitan Police, told the inquest he was on foot patrol duty in Hamilton at 11.46 p.m. when a police car drove past him, stopped and reversed.

The officer driving the car shouted the police emergency call at him ? "1055" ? and the words "Government House". Pc Van Thall and the officer on duty with him leaped into the car which drove at speed towards Government House's North Gate.

From the North Gate they drove up Government House drive, seeing nobody on their way, and arrived outside the front entrance.

The police officers found the butler standing by the Governor's body and a woman told Pc Van Thall the ADC was dead but it might still be possible to save Sharples.

Pc Van Thall then examined the Governor. He was not moving and did not appear to have a pulse.

"I went over to the body of Captain Sayers," the officer told the inquest. "He was lying at the top of the steps leading down to the grounds at the north of Government House.

"I looked for his pulse but could not find one. I did not disturb the body. I saw the body of the dog lying near the west balustrade at the top of the steps."

Pc Van Thall said he rounded up a number of house guests staying at Government House and took them to a bedroom. Then he searched the east side of the house but found nothing.

Detective Chief Inspector John Sheehy said he arrived at Government House at 1.15 a.m. Captain Sayers was lying with his hands underneath him, face down with both hands in his coat pockets.

The .38 calibre Smith & Wesson handgun he had been told to carry at all times as a result of the September, 1972 killing of Police Commissioner George Duckett was still in its holster, tucked under the cummerbund of his dinner jacket suit.

To the north of Captain Sayers' body was the dog, lying about nine feet away.

"A trail of blood started from the bottom steps (and led) across the grass to the middle of the driveway," said Det. Chief Insp. Sheehy. "The blood appeared to come from two sources, the Governor and the dog."

Det. Chief Insp. Sheehy said he accompanied Captain Sayers' body to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The senior police officer said Captain Sayers had a bullet entry wound on the right side of his chest and the bullet had lodged just below the surface of the skin under his left armpit. At the hospital he saw a bullet entry wound on the right side of the Governor's chest and an exit wound in the middle of his back. There were also entry and exit wounds at the back of Sir Richard's knee.

McParland, a 26-year-old nurse working at the hospital's emergency department on the night of the shootings, was just about to go off duty when an emergency call came through from the police. An ambulance was required at Government House immediately.

She grabbed a medical bag and got in the front of an ambulance with a driver and his assistant. They headed at speed towards Government House.

When they arrived outside the front door Miss McParland said she saw a man lying on the ground. She went over to him and recognised him as the Governor. She could not find his pulse and there were no signs of breathing.

Miss McParland cleared a lot of blood from Sharples' throat and using a tube tried to blow into his mouth to ventilate his chest. There was no movement. She decided there was nothing that could be done on the spot and the Governor should be taken to hospital.

Dr. H.B. O'Neill joined Miss McParland for the drive back to the hospital and further attempts were made in the ambulance to resuscitate the Governor.

Doctors and nurses were waiting at the hospital when they arrived. It was then that Miss McParland learned Captain Sayers was still at Government House. She rushed back to the sprawling Italianate mansion in another ambulance.

"There were quite a few policemen around at this time and a man in plain clothes carrying a clip board," she said. "I asked the man where was the body, and he told me that he did not want the body touched and no one was to go near it.

"I sat in the ambulance with the door open and a couple of policemen came up. I think one of them was an inspector. I asked him if (the ADC) was dead. The Inspector said he thought he was.

"The police then talked among themselves for a few seconds, and then one of them asked me if I would go across to the ADC and just check to make sure that he was dead.

"I found him lying down on his left side. There was no pulse and no signs of breathing. checked one of his eyes and it was fixed and staring. Both hands were in his pockets. He was fairly obviously dead."

She told police a doctor should be called to certify Captain Sayers' death.

Dr. O'Neill told him he had been home on Saturday evening when he received a frantic call from a Government House secretary telling him Sir Richard had been shot.

He jumped into his car and drove to Government House. He arrived just in time to climb into the departing ambulance taking the Governor to hospital.

"It was difficult to make a thorough examination but my impression was that he was already dead," said Dr. O'Neill of the ambulance journey.

He and Miss McParland cleared more blood from the Governor's throat and carried out cardiac massage procedures before arriving at King Edward.

When they arrived at the hospital, Dr. O'Neill and Dr. James King carried on with further resuscitation attempts. They abandoned them after about half-an-hour and called the pathologist.

Hospital pathologist Dr. Keith Cunningham said he certified the Governor dead at about 2.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Pc Rodney Fawkes, another police officer sent to Government House in the aftermath of the shootings, told the inquest he spent two hours at the property and took the body of Horsa to Dr. Robert Steele's veterinary practice to be autopsied and disposed of.

Recalled to provide the inquest with details of the autopsies he carried out on Sir Richard and Captain Sayers, Dr. Cunningham said the Governor was admitted to hospital at 12.15 a.m. on the morning of March 11. Open heart massage was attempted but the internal haemorrhaging was found to be uncontrollable and the Governor was pronounced dead.

At 9.45 a.m. on March 12 Dr. Cunningham said he conducted a post mortem on Sir Richard. He said there was a bullet wound on the chest two inches over the right third rib and a corresponding exit wound in the middle of his back.

A second entry wound was found in the rear of the Governor's right knee, the corresponding exit wound in his thigh just above the knee ? indicating he had been shot a second time as he had turned to run back to Government House after sustaining the chest wound.

Internally Sir Richard was found to have blood in both plural cavities and a large amount of blood in his larynx, trachea and main bronchi. His right lung was partially collapsed and left lung showed a bullet hole.

The cause of death was haemorrhaging, asphyxiation caused by blood in air passages and multiple bullet wound injuries.

Dr. Cunningham told the inquest he later carried out the post mortem on Captain Sayers. Death was caused by massive haemorrhaging and multiple internal injuries caused by a single bullet wound.