Land Rover Repair: 96 Disco door locks, latch assembly, clockwork spring

Question
whether I unlock my doors with the remote or with the key, when you try to
open the door, the lock pulls drop ever so slightly and re-lock to where you
have to have the key in and turned to hold the lock open, and then pull the
handle to open the door.  

Answer
The clockwork spring (hairspring) has most likely gone.  Apparently, this spring is available separately in the UK.  if you can't find a separate hairspring (which in the US you can't), you must replace the whole lock assembly.  Unfortunately there is no fix to keep this from happening again.  You simply must replace the hairsping or the whole latch assembly.