Especially when he turned out to be the last person to be hanged in England before the repeal of the death penalty. I don't know how the mother felt. But I do know that Derek Bentley's younger sister was so deeply affected by this terrible event, that she campaigned for years, and eventually succeeded in having her brother's name cleared. I guess it doesn't make too much difference to a mother whether her child is innocent or guilty. The pain she feels must be beyond imagining, because love goes way beyond concepts of innocence or guilt.
Love endures whatever the cost, whatever the pain.
The sort of love God has for us, is the sort of fierce, protective love a mother has for her child, only more so. God's love for us goes beyond concepts of innocence or guilt. He will be standing there at the foot of our cross, whatever that might be, whether we deserve to be hanging there or not. He will stay alongside us throughout, enduring but not condemning. And if that's the sort of love God has for us, then we need to find that sort of love not only for our own children, but for everyone else as well.