BBC ON THIS DAY | 28 | 1953: Derek Bentley hanged for murder About This Site | Text Only 1953: Derek Bentley hanged for murder Teenager Derek Bentley has been executed at Wandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of Pc Sidney Miles. The 19-year-old was hanged at 0900 hours after last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected. Bentley was sentenced to death on 11 December for killing Pc Miles during a bungled break-in at a warehouse in Croydon, Surrey. The court was told his co-defendant, Christopher Craig, fired the fatal shot but because he was still a juvenile in the eyes of the law he escaped the death sentence and was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. Bentley must not die A large crowd began gathering outside Wandsworth jail from early this morning. Some sang the hymn Abide With Me and the 23rd Psalm. Others began booing when a prison warder came out carrying a glass-covered board containing the execution notice.

Bentley's sentence was sealed last night when the Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, said he could not see any reason for intervening in the case. A deputation of MPs had earlier gone to see the home secretary with a petition, said to have been signed by about 200 members. They urged him to ask the Queen to exercise her royal prerogative of mercy. They pointed out Craig was the ringleader of the two and that Bentley's mental age was probably younger than his partner - a fact that had not been disclosed to the jury. They also claimed big public support for a reprieve. But the home secretary said he could see no grounds for modifying the sentence. Earlier, he had written to Bentley's parents saying the same thing. A crowd of up to 300 gathered outside the Houses of Parliament last night, chanting "Bentley must not die!" The demonstrators marched to the Home Office and later to Downing Street. The crowd eventually dispersed in the early hours of this morning after handing in a petition at Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Eden's home. Bentley's execution comes just three months after the warehouse break-in in Croydon in which Pc Miles died.

Bentley was convicted on the basis of police evidence. Three officers told the court they had heard him encourage Craig to shoot by shouting "Let him have it". Bentley's defence claimed he was already under arrest at the time the shots were fired and was simply urging Craig to give up his gun. David Rowland | Wandsworth Prison, London. | Prisons | David Rowland | Local Historians | The Old Police Cells Museum Wandsworth Prison opened in November 1851, being originally called ‘The Surrey House of Correction.’ Like Pentonville prison, it was built on the ‘Panopticon’ design to enable the ‘separate system’ to be used for 700 prisoners in individual cells, each having toilet facilities. It was designed by D. R. Hill and constructed on a 26 acre site at a cost of £140,319 11 s. 4d. The main part of the prison, having 4 wings which radiate from the centre, was for male prisoners with a smaller building for females. Two further wings were added in 1856 to give added accommodation for any influx of prisoners.

From 1870 conditions at Wandsworth deteriorated and the toilets were removed from the cells to make room for extra prisoners and the practice of ‘slopping out’ was introduced. This practice was to remain in force right up to 1996, barely 20 years ago. With the closure of Horsemonger Lane Gaol, its execution duties were taken over by Wandsworth and in 1878, an execution shed was constructed in one of the prison yards. However, there was just one ‘Condemned Cell’ at Wandsworth. As a result it sometimes necessitated the use of a hospital wing cell when there was more than one prisoner under sentence of death. This shows the gallows, with the ladder leading up to the beam above with the chain blocks. In total, 135 prisoners were to be put to death her between the years of 1878 and 1961.This comprised of 134 men and just one woman. The seventeen 19th century executions were all for murder.

A further 117 men were hanged there in the 20th century comprising of 105 murders, 10 spies (one in World War 1 and nine in World War 2.) There were also two traitors who were hanged, John Amery and William Joyce, after the end of World War 2 hostilities. The gallows were housed in what was loosely called at the time ‘The Cold Meat Shed.’ This was the first execution chamber at Wandsworth and contained the gallows which had been transferred from the Horsemonger Lane Gaol on its closure in 1878. The ‘Shed’ was cited close to the coal yard at the end of ‘A’ wing. The beams were situated 11 feet above the trap doors which when the lever was released had a drop of a 12’’ deep brick lined ‘pit’ which had been dug into the ground. This facility remained in use until 1911. After that a new facility was built between ‘E’ and ‘F’ wings. This was built adjacent t the ‘Condemned Cell.’ This was a 2-story building with the platform and the beam on the first floor level.

There was a gate placed on the ground floor level for the removal of the body after the execution The third and final execution suite, using three cells, one above the other in ‘E’ wing was constructed in 1937. As at Pentonville, the top floor contained the beam with three floor traps through which hung chains for the attachment of the ropes. The beam was fitted with three chain adjusting blocks, with the centre one for use with a single execution and the other two for any double executions. The first floor contained the 9 feet by 5 feet wide trap-doors and the operating lever. Carl Lody. Soon after the outbreak of World War One, the Germans sent a spy to Edinburgh to gather intelligence. The untrained spook's "amateurish" methods soon led to him being caught and executed by firing squad at Tower of London. There were also two other ropes that hung down in order that the warders could hold onto as they stood on planks over the drop to support the condemned man. There were handrails on the wall for use by the warders in ‘double executions. ’The ground floor Cell’ was the ‘pit’ and had a gate to the yard through which the dead body was brought out.

When Sid Dernley assisted at an execution there in the 1940’s, he recalled how clean and tidy it all was. He stated that even the wooden floor was varnished. The gallows were finally dismantled in 1994, having been tested every six months, because the death penalty still remained a possibility for treason, piracy with violence and mutiny within the Armed Forces. Today, the former execution chamber is a rest room for the prison staff. William Marwood carried out the first four executions at the prison between 1878 and 1882. The last four hangings were carried out by Harry Allen. However it was the Pierrpoint family that executed the most prisoners; Henry hanged six men, his brother Tom hanged 27 men while his son, Albert executed 48 men up to the year 1955. Wandsworth took condemned prisoners from Surrey in the first instance but when Lewes Prison stopped their executions then those prisoners from Sussex and later still those from Kent, when the facility at Maidstone Prison closed down they were all executed at Wandsworth Prison. There were quite a number of famous murderers who were executed at Wandsworth.

One man was hanged there during World War One for spying. He was Robert Rosenthal on the 15th July 1915. He had been reporting British ship movements to the German Admiralty. Another 11 men were convicted for spying against Britain. They were all shot by a firing squad at the Tower of London. They had been housed at Wandsworth Prison but the day before their execution they were moved to the Tower. The Government who expected an influx of German Spies introduced a new Act, The Treachery Act of 1940. John Amery, seen here at a party in war-time Paris Albert Pierrpoint stated that he only had one man gave him any serious problems. That was Karl Richter, a big and powerful man. H fought Pierrpoint and his assistant and a number of warders were called to try and quell the man. He managed to get his hands strapped behind him but as Pierrpoint led the procession out Richter managed to burst the leather strap that was holding his arms and another fight ensued.

Eventually they got Richter on the gallows and were in the act of pulling the lever when Richter jumped and loosened the noose causing it to catch under his top lip instead of remaining under his jaw. However, his neck was still broken by the force of the drop. John Amery was the son of a cabinet minister and the brother of Julian Amery. He went to Berlin in 1942 where he made speeches and radio broadcasts as well as visiting prisoner of war camps exhorting Allied prisoners to fight for the Germans on the Russian front. With the fall of Italy, 33 year old Amery was arrested in Milan in July 1945 and flown back to Britain to face treason charges. He appeared at the Old Bailey on the 26th November 1945 and pleaded guilty. He was hanged by Albert Pierrpoint and assisted by Harry Critchell on Wednesday 19th December 1945. Then came William Joyce, known as ‘Lord Haw Haw’ because of his posh accent. He gave radio messages out right through the war years. A lot of British people used to listen to what he had to say.

I remember one day after Brighton had been attacked by enemy bombers, he spoke about it during his broadcast and although he highly exaggerated the story, nevertheless what he said was true. He was captured and appeared at the Old Bailey on the 19th September 1945 and convicted of Treason. He was hanged by Albert Pierrpoint, assisted by Alexander Reilly at 9am on Thursday the 3rd January 1946. The first of the murderers was Polish born George Chapman whose real name was Severin Klosowski. He poisoned three of his girl friends in 1897. He was tried at the Old Bailey and convicted in just 10 minutes deliberation by the Jury. On hearing the sentence he collapsed in the dock and was in a similar state when William Billington came to executing him on the 7th April 1903. William Joyce, the man with the famous nickname 'Lord Haw Haw', is Britain's most well-known traitor, of relatively recent times anyway.

He had a catchphrase as famous as any comedian's and to cap it all he had a facial disfigurement in the form of a terrible scar that marked him as a 'villainous traitor' as if the words themselves were tattooed across his forehead. Gordon Frederick Cummins 28years murdered 4 women during the Second World War. He was tried at the Old Bailey 27th April 1942 and was convicted the following day of murder. He was hanged by Albert Pierrpoint assisted by Harry Kirk on Thursday 25th June 1942. On the morning of his execution he wrote to his wife begging for forgiveness and saying ‘Although I don’t know, I think I must be Guilty – the evidence is overwhelming.’ Other than a hatred of women and prostitutes in particular, his motives for this killing seem unclear. Probably the most famous case of murder was committed by John George Haigh 39 years; the acid bath murderer. He appeared at Lewes Assize Court in July 1949 before Mr. Justice Humphreys. The Jury were unimpressed by his arguments and found him guilty in just 17 minutes.

He was hanged by Albert Pierrpoint assisted by Harry Kirk on Wednesday 10th August 1949. They gave him a ‘drop of 7’ 4.’ Another famous case was that of Derek Bentley for his part in the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles on the roof of a factory in Croydon in 1952. He was hanged on Wednesday 28th January 1953 by Albert Pierrpoint. Many years later after a huge fight by his family he received a pardon. It took over 40 years to receive the pardon after the shooting incident. The pardon was granted in 1998. The last murderer to be executed at Wandsworth Prison was Hendrick Neimasz who was 49 years of age. He was executed by Harry Allan and his assistant Samuel Plant on Friday the 8th September 1961. He had been convicted at Lewes Assize Court for the double murder of Mr and Mrs Hubert Buxton on the night of 12th may 1961. He had been having an affair with Mrs. Buxton and wanted him to leave his wife in order to be with her.

The brief story is that about 8am on the 13th May 1961 the milkman was delivering to the small but tidy bungalow in the grounds of Pantile House in Aldrington, Kent. As he got nearer to the porch of the bungalow he stopped in horror. There sprawled across the porchway was the semi-naked Alice Buxton. She was covered in blood from a serious head wound. The milkman hurried away to call the police and a young constable arrived shortly after and went inside. There he saw Hubert Buxton 35 years, lying on the scullery floor; he had been shot in the head. The CID were then called and quickly found out that Mrs Alice Buxton had been having an affair with a man called Hendrick Neimasz. A crowd of civilians and servicemen gather to view the notice posted on the gates of Wandsworth Prison in London announcing the execution of Amery About 8 months before this incident a constable reported having see a couple having sex in a light coloured car with a tarpaulin stretched over the car. He could see the vehicle was rocking from side to side on its springs.

He pulled it back to see the couple having sex and recognised the woman as Alice Buxton. The vehicle was a light coloured Hillman Husky motor car. It wasn’t long before Hendrick Neimasz was arrested and put on trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to be ‘hanged until dead.’ He was hanged on Friday 8th September 1961 by Harry Allen and assisted by Samuel Plant. Allan gave him a drop of some 6’ 2’’. The very last person to be hanged at Wandsworth Prison. 1965: Ronald Biggs escapes from jail Ronald Biggs - a member of the gang who carried out the Great Train Robbery in 1963 - has escaped from Wandsworth prison. Biggs, 35, escaped by scaling a 30ft wall with three other prisoners at 1505 BST today. A ladder was thrown over the wall from the outside during the prisoners' afternoon exercise session. The escapees climbed the ladder and lowered themselves into a waiting van. They were driven away from the prison in three cars.

Daily Mirror 09/07/1965 David - Rowland Welcome to the Finsbury Publishing David Rowland has just launched his 15th and final book, "The Spirit of Winsome Winn II", all about the B-17 Flying Fortress which crashed at Patcham after being hit by anti-aircraft fire over Germany. Briton Hanged in 1953 Is Finally Exonerated - The New York Times The New York Times World |Briton Hanged in 1953 Is Finally Exonerated Search Continue reading the main story For 46 years the relatives of Derek Bentley, hanged at 19 for his role in the murder of a police officer, told anyone who would listen that he was the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice. They went to Parliament looking for the support of legislators. They went to Speakers' Corner, that great democratic bazaar in Hyde Park in London, and pleaded their case before the gathered crowds. They went to documentary film makers, reporters and crusading book authors. And year after year they went to the British Government, asking for help, and were turned away.

Today the Bentley family and what had become a passionate network of supporters finally got what they had fought for. Britain's highest court overturned the conviction against Mr. Bentley, saying that the trial judge had presented such a one-sided account of the case to the jury that Mr. Bentley had been denied ''that fair trial which is the birthright of every British citizen.'' ''It must be a matter of profound and continuing regret that this mistrial occurred and that the defects we have found were not recognized at the time,'' the court said. Continue reading the main story It was on the night of Nov. 2, 1952, that Mr. Bentley and a 16-year-old friend, Christopher Craig, were confronted by the police as they tried to break into a warehouse in south London. While Mr. Bentley -- who was prone to seizures and had the mental age of 11 -- was held by one of the officers, Mr. Craig shot and killed Police Constable Sidney Miles. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Although Mr. Bentley took no part in the killing, three officers testified that he had yelled, ''Let him have it, Chris!'' -- inciting his friend to fire at Constable Miles.

Despite Mr. Bentley's assertion that he never uttered those words -- an assertion that was backed up by Mr. Craig and several other witnesses -- he was convicted of murder and hanged in January 1953. Because of his age, Mr. Craig was sent to prison and released after 10 years. In its judgment today, written by the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, Lord Bingham, the court found that the language used by the trial judge amounted to a ''highly rhetorical and strongly worded denunciation of both defendants and their choices.'' Among other things, the court concluded, the trial judge gave far too much weight to the word of the police officers. ''The jury were never fairly invited by the trial judge to consider the points which had been made on the appellant's behalf,'' the judgment said. ''The effect was to deprive him of the protection which jury trial should have afforded.'' The court also said that even if Mr. Bentley had yelled ''Let him have it,'' the statement was ambiguous. ''It could bear an innocent meaning, being an encouragement by the appellant to Craig to hand over his weapon,'' the ruling said. The day Mr.

Bentley was executed, crowds demonstrated outside Wandsworth Prison, where he was being held, and at the Houses of Parliament. And his 21-year-old sister, Iris, who had already lost two siblings, returned her engagement ring to her fiance and vowed to spend the rest of her life fighting to clear her brother's name. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy In years of campaigning, petitioning and hoping, she achieved a number of hard-won victories. In 1965 Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, in part because of the country's continued unease over the Bentley case. In 1968 Mr.

Bentley's remains were removed from a prison graveyard and buried in a grave in a south London cemetery, which Miss Bentley kept covered in flowers and where the headstone reads, ''Here lies the body of Derek Bentley, a victim of British justice.'' The case inspired countless sympathetic books, television documentaries, songs and films, including the 1991 feature film ''Let Him Have It.'' And although one Home Secretary after another turned down Miss Bentley's requests to reopen the case, in 1993 Home Secretary Michael Howard finally granted Mr. Bentley a limited pardon, saying he should not have been put to death. Last November the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body set up to re-examine possible miscarriages of justice, finally sent the Bentley case to the Court of Appeal. But the decision was too late for Iris Bentley, who died earlier that year after a long struggle with cancer. Today Iris's daughter, Maria Dingwall-Bentley, celebrated by opening a bottle of 1958 Moet & Chandon champagne that Iris and Derek's father had bought in anticipation of this day. But she said her joy was laced with regret.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story ''I think this has been one of the most pleasurable days of my life, but also tinged with great sadness that my mother, Iris, is not here today,'' Ms. Dingwall-Bentley said at a news conference. ''For 46 years all we have known is Derek never murdered anybody.'' The family's lawyer, Benedict Birnberg, today applauded the decision but lashed out at the successive governments, most of them Conservative, that had refused to re-examine the case. ''They had every opportunity, year after year, to refer this case back to the courts or to have a public inquiry,'' he said. Mr. Craig, now 62 and a retired plumber, said that today's ruling had left him ''grateful and relieved,'' but ''saddened that it has taken those 46 years for the authorities of this country to admit the truth.'' Mr. Craig expressed his remorse over the death of Constable Miles and said he would never speak publicly about the case again. ''A day does not go by when I don't think about Derek,'' he said. Wandsworth prison, London London .

Wandsworth prison opened in November 1851, being originally called The Surrey House of Correction. Like Pentonville prison, it was built on the "Panopticon" design to enable the "separate system" to be used for 700 prisoners in individual cells, each with toilet facilities. It was designed by D.R. Hill and constructed on a 26 acre site at a cost of ï¿½140, 319 11s 4d. The main part of the prison, having 4 wings radiating from the centre, was for male prisoners with a smaller separate building for females.ï¿½ Two further wings were added in 1856 to give the arrangement shown here .ï¿½ From 1870, conditions at Wandsworth deteriorated and the toilets were removed from the cells to make room for extra prisoners and the practice of "slopping out" introduced which was to remain in force until 1996. With the closure of Horsemonger Lane Gaol, its execution duties were transferred to Wandsworth in 1878 and an execution shed was constructed in one of the yards.

There was only one condemned cell at Wandsworth at this time which sometimes necessitated the use of a hospital wing cell when there was more than one prisoner under sentence of death. In total, 135 prisoners were to be put to death here from 1878 to 1961, comprising of 134 men and one woman. The seventeen 19th century executions were all for murder. A further 117 men were hanged there in the 20th century comprising of 105 murderers, 10 spies (one in World War I and nine in World War II), and two traitors, John Amery and William Joyce, after the end of World War II hostilities. The gallows at Wandsworth.

We are fortunate to have this photograph of what was known at the time as "The Cold Meat Shed." This was the first execution chamber at Wandsworth and contained the gallows transferred from Horsemonger Lane Gaol on its closure in 1878.ï¿½ This execution shed was cited near the coal yard at the end of A Wing.ï¿½ The beams were 11ï¿½ above the trapdoors which opened into a 12ï¿½ deep brick lined ï¿½pitï¿½ dug into the ground.ï¿½ This facility was to remain in use up to 1911. Together with one of the original white painted uprights, you can see the lever, open trapdoors and one of the plank bridge boards laid across the drop for the warders to stand on whilst supporting the prisoner. During 1911, a new facility was constructed between E Wing and F Wing adjacent to the condemned cell.ï¿½ It was a two story building with the platform and beam on the first floor and a gate on the ground floor for removal of the body.

The first execution on this gallows was that of Frederick Thomas on the 15th of November 1911.ï¿½ The final execution suite, using three cells, one above the other in E wing, was constructed in 1937ï¿½ Alfred Richards was the first to be hanged here, on the 12th of July 1938. As at Pentonville, the top floor contained the beam with three floor traps through which hung down chains for attachment of the ropes.ï¿½ The beam was fitted with three chain adjusting blocks, with the centre one for use for single executions and the outer two for double ones. The first floor contained the 9 feet long by 5 feet wide trapdoors and the operating lever. Two other ropes hung down for the warders to hold onto as they stood on planks over the drop to support the condemned man. There were also handrails on the wall for use by the warders in double executions.ï¿½ The ground floor cell was the "pit or drop room" and had a gate to the yard through which the body was brought out.

When Sid Dernley assisted at an execution there in the 40ï¿½s, he recalled how clean and tidy it all was, even the wooden floor being varnished. The gallows was last tested in January 1993 and dismantled on the 24th of May 1993. It was tested every six months because the death penalty remained a theoretical possibility for treason, piracy with violence and mutiny in the Armed Forces. Today, the former execution chamber is a rest room for staff. Here are photos of the incredibly accurate and detailed 1/6 scale model of the last gallows at Wandsworth, built by Paul Gilmartin of PJG Design, who has kindly made them available to me. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 & 7 .ï¿½ These show the gallows, with the ladder leading up to the beam above with the chain blocks.ï¿½ The room ready for an execution, a prisoner on the trap and hanging (the hangman, assistant and supporting officers have been omitted for clarity). Finally there is a view of the operating mechanism from the underside of the trapdoors. Hangmen at Wandsworth.

William Marwood carried out the first four executions between 1878 and 1882. Bartholomew Binns hanged the next man and then James Berry dealt with six men between 1885 and 1891. James Billington hanged a further nine men from 1895 to 1901 before handing it over to his sons, William and John, who each carried out four executions. Henry Pierrepoint hanged six men at Wandsworth, his brother Tom 27 men, and his son Albert, no fewer than 48 up to 1955. John Ellis dealt with eight men and Robert Baxter nine. Alfred Allen hanged one man in 1936, Thomas Phillips executed two men in 1939/1940 and Steve Wade (Albert Pierrepoint's most trusted assistant) one in 1953. The last four hangings were carried out by Harry Allen. Executions at Wandsworth.

Wandsworth took condemned prisoners from Surrey in the first instance but with the ending of executions at Lewes after 1914, also took those condemned in Sussex when the execution facility at Maidstone was closed down . As at Pentonville, the number of executions per year in the 20th century fluctuated considerably. There were none at all in 1908, 1913/14, 1919/20, 1926/27, 1929 and 1931-1933. However, the War years of 1939-1945 were very busy with no fewer than 37 hangings in the seven full years between January 1939 and December 1945. A further 31 executions took place in the following 17 years. The first execution at Wandsworth was that of 31 year old Thomas Smithers on the 8th of October 1878 . Smithers was hanged by William Marwood for the murder of his girlfriend, Amy Judge at Battersea on the 22nd of July of that year.

His execution was followed by that of Kate Webster in 1879 for the brutal murder of her mistress. Click here for full details of this famous case. Kate was the only woman to be executed at Wandsworth. Spies and traitors. One man was hanged at Wandsworth during World War I for spying under the Treachery Act of 1914. He was Robert Rosenthal on the 15th of July 1915 . Rosenthal had been reporting British ship movements to the German Admiralty. The 11 other men convicted of spying during World War I were all sentenced to death by firing squad and shot at the Tower of London. They were housed at Wandsworth until the day before their execution when they were transferred to the Tower.

Soon after the beginning of World War II, the government, in an effort to deal with an expected influx of German spies, introduced The Treachery Act of 1940 which stated that : "If, with intent to help the enemy, any person does, or attempts or conspires with any other person to do any act which is designed or likely to give assistance to the naval, military or air operations of the enemy, to impede such operations of His Majesty's forces, or to endanger life, shall be guilty of felony and shall on conviction suffer death." Under this Act, nine men were hanged at Wandsworth. (A further seven were executed at Pentonville and one shot at the Tower London .)ï¿½ For detailed accounts of these men, visit my friend Stephen Stratford's website . In his autobiography, Albert Pierrepoint recalls how one of these spies gave him and the warders a serious fight in the condemned cell. He refers to this man as Otto Schmidt but in fact it was Karl Richter whom he executed on the 10th of December 1941 .

Richter, a large and powerful man, threw himself head first against the cell wall when he realised that the time had come and then, when he had recovered, somewhat fought with Pierrepoint, Harry Allen and the warders until Pierrepoint managed to get his hands strapped behind him and began to lead the procession out to the gallows. Richter's arms were so strong that he managed to burst the leather strap and had to be further restrained. Just as Pierrepoint had finished the preparations on the gallows and was in the act of pushing the lever, Richter jumped and loosened the noose causing it to catch under his top lip instead of remaining under his jaw. However, his neck was still broken by the force of the drop. In addition to the spies, two men were to hang for treason at Wandsworth. They were tried and convicted under the Treason Act of 1351. John Amery was the son of a cabinet minister and the brother of Julian Amery. He went to Berlin in 1942 where he made speeches and radio broadcasts and also visited prisoner of war camps, exhorting Allied prisoners to fight for the Germans on the Russian front.

With the fall of Italy, 33 year old Amery was arrested in Milan in July 1945 and flown back to Britain to face treason charges. He came to trial at the Old Bailey on the 26th of November 1945 and pleaded guilty, his whole trial lasting just eight minutes. He was then transferred to Wandsworth to await his appointment with Albert Pierrepoint on Wednesday, the 19th of December 1945 .ï¿½ Harry Critchell was the assistant. William Joyce, nicknamed "Lord Haw Haw" because of his posh accent and trademark " Germany calling" at the start of his radio propaganda broadcasts from Germany , held a British passport and as such, this made him guilty of treason for these broadcasts during the war. Joyce was actually an American citizen, although he had claimed to be Irish, who had joined the British Fascist Party in 1936, moving to Germany in 1939, before the outbreak of war. He was tried at the Old Bailey and convicted on the 19th of September 1945 . His defence argued that as an American citizen he owed no allegiance to the Crown and thus was not guilty of treason.

The prosecution argument was that as a British passport holder he did owe this allegiance. His appeal was dismissed on the 1st of November 1945 and he was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Alexander Reilly, at 9.00 a.m. Thursday, the 3rd of January 1946 . The following day the last execution for treason in the U.K. took place at Pentonville, that of Theodore Schurch. Murderers. Thirty seven year old Polish born George Chapman, whose real name was Severin Klosowski, poisoned three of his girlfriends. His first victim was Isabella Mary Spink in 1897, his next, Elizabeth Taylor in 1901 and his final one, Maude Eliza Marsh in October 1902. The doctor who examined Maude noticed distinct similarities between the symptoms of her illness and that of another woman he had treated and suspected poisoning. Dr. Stoker was proved right by the autopsy which found that Maude had been given a lethal dose of tartar emetic, an antimony based poison.

When Chapman grew tired of a girlfriend, he found poisoning the easy way out and in each case he ended the relationship this way. However in Maude's case, the autopsy evidence led to his arrest and the exhumation of his other two ex-girlfriends. He came to trial at the Old Bailey in March 1907 and his defence was a) lack of motive and b) no witnesses to him actually administering poison. The jury, however, found three identical deaths too much of a coincidence and convicted him after just 10 minutes deliberation. He collapsed in the dock and was in a similar state when William Billington executed him three weeks later, on Tuesday, April 7th, 1903 .

The first murder conviction where finger print evidence played a significant part was that of the Stratton brothers in 1905.ï¿½ 20 year old Albert Ernest and 22 year old Alfred Stratton were found guilty of the robbery murders of an elderly couple, Thomas and Ann Farrow, at their paint shop in Deptford High Street in London on the 27th of March 1905 .ï¿½ In the course of robbing the shop the Strattons had battered the owners to death. Albert had left a bloody fingerprint on the cash box.ï¿½ The pair were tried at the Old Bailey on the 5th and 6th of May before Mr.

Justice Channell who in his summing up told the jury not to rely on the fingerprint evidence alone.ï¿½ The jury did convict the pair and they were returned to Wandsworth to await execution.ï¿½ This took place on the 23rd of May and as it was a double execution John Billington was given two assistants, Henry Pierrepoint and John Ellis.ï¿½ Albert Stratton weighed 172 lbs and was given a drop of 6ï¿½ 6ï¿½ whilst his lighter brother Alfred was given a drop of 7ï¿½ 6ï¿½ as he weighed 147 lbs.ï¿½ In Albertï¿½s case the drop was sufficient to cause fracture dislocation of the neck but in Alfredï¿½s case, although there was dislocation of the neck there was also evidence of asphyxia.ï¿½ Both men had been given considerable longer drops for their weights (1 foot 8 inches and 1 foot 10 inches respectively) than specified in the official 1892 table of drops but even so it was not sufficient to break Alfredï¿½s neck cleanly.

On the 31st of May 1928 , while Frederick Guy Browne was being hanged at Pentonville, his accomplice William Henry Kennedy was suffering an identical fate at Wandsworth. They were both executed for the brutal murder of police constable, George Gutteridge. Kennedy was arrested in Liverpool five days after the crime, for an unrelated car theft, and tried to shoot the arresting officer. Kennedy admitted being with Browne but insisted that Browne had murdered constable Gutteridge. The jury found them both guilty under the doctrine of common purpose and as was becoming the norm, they were executed at the same moment in separate prisons rather than side by side. Kennedy was hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Robert Wilson and received a drop of 7ï¿½ 1ï¿½. Gordon Frederick Cummings was a 28 year old airman who murdered four women in London during the space of one week in February 1942. They were Evelyn Hamilton, Margaret Lowe, Doris Jouannet and Evelyn Oatley, all of who were in their late 30's or early 40's and all of whom he strangled.

He also mutilated three of these women. He was about to add a fifth killing to his tally when he was surprised in the act of strangling Margaret Hawyood, and fled the scene leaving his gas mask with his name, rank and number in it. He was soon arrested and his fingerprints matched those at the murder scenes. He came to trial at the Old Bailey on the 27th of April, and was convicted the following day for the murder of Evelyn Oatley (the only one he was actually tried for) after the jury had been out for just 35 minutes. He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk, on Thursday, the 25th of June 1942 . On the morning of execution, he wrote to his wife asking her forgiveness and saying, ï¿½Although I donï¿½t know, I think I must be guilty ï¿½ the evidence is overwhelming.ï¿½ï¿½ Other than a hatred of women and prostitutes in particular, his motives for this killing spree seem unclear.

Where a person was charged with several murders, it was normal to only proceed with one case at their trial so that if they were acquitted of that charge they could be re-arrested and tried for another offence. As the death sentence was mandatory for an individual murder, they could only be hanged once, irrespective of how many people they had killed. John George Haigh, the infamous "Acid bath" murderer, was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, again assisted by Harry Kirk, on Wednesday, the 10th of August 1949 . Pierrepoint obviously considered Haigh as a special case and used his calf leather wrist strap to pinion him before giving him a drop of 7ï¿½ 4ï¿½.ï¿½ Thirty nine year old Haigh possessed a great deal of natural charm and passed himself off as an engineer. He battered or shot three men and three women to death between 1944 and 1949, all for financial gain, disposing of the bodies by dissolving them in sulphuric acid which quite quickly reduced them to a liquid sludge that he could pour down the drain.

His victims were William Donald McSwann and later his parents, William and Amy McSwann. They were followed by Dr. Archibald Henderson and his wife, Rosalie, and finally by Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon for whose murder he was to hang. Mrs. Durand-Deacon lived, like Haigh, at the Onslow in Sussex , which he told her was going to make cosmetics. He persuaded her to go with him to look at the factory, which was little more than a store room and when he got her there, shot her in the neck. He had previously equipped the building with a carboy of acid, a 40-gallon drum and rubber gloves and apron. He took Mrs. Durand-Deacon's jewellery and other valuables, including her fur coat which he had cleaned to remove the bloodstains prior to sale and then put her body into the acid to dissolve. One of the other residents at the Onslow Court , who was a friend of Mrs. Durand-Deacon, was greatly concerned by her disappearance and asked Haigh to go with her to Chelsea police station to report her missing.

The police became suspicious of Haigh and obtained a search warrant for his factory, where they were to discover a revolver and the acid drum together with some human remains. These included some bone remains, Mrs. Durand-Deacon's false teeth and her gallstone. When they arrested Haigh and put this evidence to him, he told them, "Mrs. Durand-Deacon no longer exists. I have destroyed her with acid. You can't prove a murder without a body." He went on to admit to eight other killings of which only five could be substantiated. He was tried at Lewes Assizes before Mr. Justice Humphreys in July 1949 and put forward a defence of insanity and claimed that he was also a vampire and had drank a glass of the blood of each of his victims. This made sensational headlines in the newspapers. However, the jury were less impressed and took just 17 minutes to find him guilty. Derek Bentley was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on Wednesday, the 28th of January 1953 for his part in an armed robbery at a Croydon factory which resulted in the shooting dead of P.C. Sidney Miles.

This case aroused much controversy at the time and became a cause celebrï¿½ to the anti-capital punishment lobby. Derek Bentley was finally granted a well deserved posthumous pardon in 1998. Click here for full details of this famous case. Only one other teenager was to hang at Wandsworth, Francis "Flossy" Forsyth , who was executed by Harry Allen, assisted by Royston Rickard, on the 10th of November 1960. Forsyth was one of a gang of four youths who had beaten and kicked to death 23 year old Allan Jee, on the night of Saturday, the 25th of June 1960 in Hounslow, Middlesex. A witness saw them running from the scene of this motiveless and vicious attack and was able to give accurate descriptions of them. A friend of Forsyth reported to the police that Forsyth had been boasting about the killing and gave them the names of all four.

One of the youths was only 17 and one was convicted of non-capital murder (as defined by the Homicide Act of 1957), but Forsyth and Norman James Harris were convicted of capital murder at their Old Bailey trial in September 1960. Harris was hanged at Pentonville by Robert Stewart at the same time Forsyth was being executed at Wandsworth. One of the first capital cases that I remember as a boy was that of Guenther Fritz Podola in 1959. I suppose it was his, to a child's view of the world, odd sounding name that caught my attention. Podola had been born in Berlin in 1929 and came to Britain at the Spring of 1959, after deportation from Canada where he had been convicted of theft and burglary. In July 1959, he was again engaged in burglary in London 's South Kensington . He tried to blackmail his victim, a Mrs. Schiffman, by claiming to have embarrassing photos and tape recordings of her.

As she knew she had nothing to hide, she reported the phone call to the police who tapped her line and when Podola rang again, were able to trace the call to a nearby call box where the police found him moments later. He got away from the detectives and was chased and caught near a block of flats in Onslow Square . While the one policeman went to fetch the car, Podola produced a gun and shot the other policeman, Detective Sergeant Raymond Purdy. Purdy had taken Podola's address book when he arrested him, and it was discovered by his widow when Purdy's belongings were returned to her. This pointed the police towards the Claremont House Hotel in Kensington where Podola was staying in room 15. Armed police assembled outside the room and at the signal, forced the door. Podola, who was probably listening at the door, was hit on the head by it as it flew open. He was hospitalised for 4 days as a result and claimed to have no memory of his arrest or the shooting of D.S. Purdy. He was tried at the Old Bailey and the jury rejected his defence of memory loss.

Even though it could be proved that he had shot Purdy, if he genuinely couldn't recall doing so and was not mentally fit to stand trial, he would have had to have been acquitted. He was hanged by Harry Allen on the 5th of November 1959 at , the last person to be hanged for the murder of a police officer in Britain .ï¿½ For a detailed account of this case, click here . The final murderer to stand on Wandsworth's gallows was 49 year old Hendrick Neimasz on Friday, the 8th of September 1961 . Neimasz had been convicted at Lewes Assizes of the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Buxton, whom he had murdered in their home on the night of the 12th of May 1961 . Neimasz had been having an affair with Alice Buxton, who wanted him to leave his wife for her - something he refused to do. Sadly, he resolved the problem by killing them. He was hanged by Harry Allen, assisted by Samuel Plant, and was given a drop of 6ï¿½ 2ï¿½.

Wandsworth continues as the main prison for Surrey and South London to the present day and with the prison population at record levels, holds some 1,300+ men, most at the start of their sentences before they are dispersed to other prisons. A new book on 10 People Who Were Probably Wrongly Executed – Page 2 10 People Who Were Probably Wrongly Executed 10. Derek William Bentley wikipedia Derek William Bentley was hanged for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles in 1952. Bentley (19), along with his friend Christopher Craig (16) attempted to break into a local warehouse, however they were soon spotted by a nine year old girl who informed her parents. When police arrived, Bentley and Craig attempted to hide, and while Bentley managed to escape, Craig allegedly opened fire, shooting Sergeant Fairfax in the shoulder. When backup arrived, Bentley was arrested and the remaining officers climbed to the top of the building where Craig was hiding. Craig opened fire again, this time killing Police Constable Sidney Miles, before jumping thirty feet from the roof, fracturing his spine.

Though it was Craig who shot both Sergeant Fairfax and Constable Miles, Bentley was convicted (despite the fact that he was actually in the presence of a police officer at the time) and was sentenced to death. Craig meanwhile was sent to prison, but was released just ten years later. Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, London, on January 28th 1953. Forty years later, on 29th July 1993 Bentley was granted a royal pardon. Unlocking secrets of notorious prison (From This Is Local London) Unlocking secrets of notorious prison Show caption Cold and intimidating, Wandsworth Prison has stood for more than 150 years, its faded Victorian frontage giving little away as to the goings-on inside. But if buildings could talk, few would have more interesting tales. Through its dark doors have passed every walk of life. It has been a temporary home for a raft of notables - including Oscar Wilde and the assassin of Martin Luther King - and a final home for 135 people executed there.

During the wars it was sequestered by the military and it has been at the heart of at least two films - Let Him Have It, the story of David Bentley, who was wrongly executed for murdering a policeman in the 50s, and Pierrepoint, a portrait of Albert Pierrepoint, the most prolific British hangman of the 20th century. Ronnie Kray served time there in the 50s and Frank Bruno, Elton John and Michael Parkinson have also been inside - albeit as visitors. It has also been the scene of audacious getaways, which along with the executions, form the backdrop to a thoroughly riveting Wandsworth Prison Museum. Stewart McLaughlin, a serving officer at Wandsworth for 19 years, is author of several prison books and the museum's honorary curator. "We created a display of the prison's history to coincide with the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2001 and decided to make it permanent," he said. "It has taken a few years but last week the Duke of Kent officially opened the museum." The museum itself is little bigger than a prison cell, but the intimate venue adds spice to stories of prison life seen through the eyes of inmates and wardens.

Gallows The centre piece display is a replica of the gallows and hangman's rope - which were actually used in the Pierrepoint film. The gallows offer visitors a morbid peek into the dark past, but for Stewart the mechanics and development of the hanging technique hold historic value. Before an execution, a prisoner's weight was taken and calculated into a formula to ensure the prisoner's death was as humane as possible. The inmate's weight determined the speed at which the prisoner dropped. Trap doors below the condemned opened and the drop, stopped only by the length of rope, caused the rope to sharply tighten around the neck, snapping the spine between the second and third vertebra. Stewart tells me the technique was still being perfected in the 18th century. "In one famous case in Lincoln, the calculation was wrong and an inmate was decapitated after falling too quickly." In Wandsworth, the first execution was that of Thomas Smithers, the Battersea Murderer, on October 8, 1878. The Reverend John Pitkin was working at the jail at the time. He recalled: "A sense of gloom pervaded all the corridors and wards of the prison.

"The prisoners heard the tolling of the bell, and imagined all that was taking place in the courtyard below. "The death sentence was carried out without a hitch and the lifeless body, after a coroner's inquest, was buried within the precincts of the prison." The only woman to be executed was Catherine Webster after murdering her elderly boss in 1879. Today she is known as the "grey lady" and some believe she still haunts the prison. During the First World War a number of so-called deserters were executed, but the execution of spies was more expedient during the Second World War. The famous German propoganda broadcaster Lord Haw-Haw was executed at Wandsworth and one German spy, Karl Richter, saw the gallows and put up a fight with Pierrepoint after slipping out of one of his wrist straps. Richter was eventually overpowered and executed and Pierrepoint was given the strap as a souvenir - during his career he was estimated to have executed 433 men and 17 women, including 200 Nazi war criminals after World War II.

Reform In 1949 John Haigh, the "acid bath murderer" was executed after being convicted of dumping one victim in sulphuric acid to destroy evidence. About 1,000 protesters massed at the prison the morning of Bentleys' execution on January 28, 1953. Controversially, Bentley was executed for his part in the murder of police officer Sidney Miles. His accomplice, who actually shot Miles, was Christopher Craig. Craig was only 16 - too young to be executed. In 1993 Bentley was pardoned for the sentence - 40 years too late - and today the famous double-meaning in the "let him have it Chris" is still controversial. Other than punishment for capital crimes, corporal punishment, including lashes with a birch wood across the buttocks, was also carried out at the prison. Punishment and reform have come a long way since and the museum goes on to catalogue how prisons have moved from a system of detention to reform. It wasn't always the same. In the early days inmates wore veils to conceal their identity and were made to do hard labour turning a wheel which recorded the amount of revolutions made.

There was no final product to the work, it was pointless, and the level of difficulty at these wheels could be altered by prison guards - which apparently is where inmates' affectionate term "screws" comes from. The museum succeeds in bringing alive that 150-year history - from playwright and satirist Oscar Wilde who was a prisoner in 1895 before being transferred to Reading (he was reportedly spat on at Clapham Junction station as he was transported) - to prisoner 059184, a certain R G S Sneyd, known also as James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King in 1968. More recent inmates include Coronation Street actor Craig Charles and Graham Rix, ex-manager of Chelsea. Ronnie Biggs And of course with prisons there are famous tales of escape. When 11 men found freedom under a wall in 1961, it was the largest ever escape from a British prison - they were all recaptured a few weeks later. But the most notorious escapee was a certain Ronnie Biggs.

1964 saw the last hangings in Britain and was the year Biggs was sent to Wandsworth for 30 years following his part in the Great Train Robbery. Officers will have chuckled as Biggs was set to work sewing postbags - but he would have his turn. On Thursday, July 8, 1965, he and co-escapee Eric Flower were exercising on D yard just before 3pm when a red removal van positioned itself by the prison wall near officer houses. A trap door in the van's roof opened and an extending scaffold was raised. A ladder was put over the wall into the yard and both men began running for it. Two opportunist inmates tagged along. Officers were prevented from catching them by other inmates and after transferring to a green Zephyr car, the group sped off towards Trinity Road before turning on to Bellevue Road. Biggs later poked fun at authorities by sending postcards back to the UK. He eventually surrendered to authorities in 2001, proving that today the arm of the law is indeed long, but better than it has been in the past - by a neck.

The museum is open by written appointment only and parties are advised tours will take one hour, which includes a 30-minute slide show. Enquires should be addressed to: Wandsworth Prison Museum c/o POA Office, HMP Wandsworth, Heathfield Road, SW18 3HS. Books covering the prison's history are available from the museum. Derek Bentley (1933 - 1953) - Find A Grave Memorial Wandsworth Greater London, England Execution Victim. Considered the victim of one of the greatest miscarriages of British justice. He suffered from epilepsy, had been injured during the War when a bomb fell on his house, was unable to read or write, had an I.Q. of 66 and the mental age of a four year old.

He had never been in any trouble with the law, except for two minor offences of petty theft for which he was bound over to keep the peace, until the November 2, 1952, when he and a boy of sixteen, Christopher Craig, broke into the premises of Barlow and Parker's wholesale confectionery warehouse in Tamworth Road, Croydon (demolished in 1977 and replaced by houses) and climbed onto the roof in order to gain entrance through the skylight. Before they could do so, the police arrived. Bentley surrendered at once, but Craig produced a .455 Eley ; not, as is often claimed, a Colt .45. Bentley shouted "Let him have it, Chris" (although this is under dispute) and Craig shot Police Constable Fairfax in the shoulder. Armed reinforcements were called and the first to arrive, Police Constable Sidney Miles was shot dead. At the trial, both Craig and Bentley were found guilty of murder although, in Bentley's case, the jury added a recommendation of mercy. Craig was too young to be hanged and served ten years. It was expected that Bentley would be granted a reprieve, but none was forthcoming.

Bentley was buried in Wandsworth Prison until 1966, when his remains were re-interred in Croydon Cemetery. Ironically, that was where P.C. Miles's ashes had been scattered. However, his parents and his sister Iris were not allowed to have the words "A Victim of English Justice" inscribed on his tombstone. Consequently, there was no marker until a few years ago. In 1992, the Conservative Government refused to re-open the case, but one of the first acts of Tony Blair's Labour Government was to grant Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon. At the time of the execution, Reginald Paget, the Labour M.P. for Northampton, had summed up the case as follows : "The great condemnation of the German people was that they stood aside and did nothing when dreadful things happened. Now, a three-quarter witted boy of nineteen is to be hanged for a murder he did not commit and which was committed fifteen minutes after he was arrested.

Can we be made to keep silent when a thing as horrible and as shocking as this is to happen?" (bio by: Iain MacFarlaine) Sidney Miles : definition of Sidney Miles and synonyms of Sidney Miles (English) Wandsworth Prison Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer , committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the murder, known under English law as ' joint enterprise '. This created a cause célèbre and led to a 46-year-long campaign to win Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon , which was granted partially in 1993, then finally completely By Her Majesty's Pleasure Of The High Court in 1998. Contents 7 External links Early life Derek Bentley had a difficult upbringing. During World War II the house Bentley lived in as a child was bombed and collapsed around him, leaving Derek with serious head injuries. The event left Bentley concussed and brain damaged .

Bentley attended Norbury Secondary modern school in 1944, after failing the eleven-plus examination . When Bentley was approaching school leaving age, he was sent to Kingswood approved school for theft. Derek Bentley was found to have a mental age of 11, and was lower than average intelligence, having scored 66 and 77 on two separate IQ tests. At the time of his arrest in early November 1952, he was found to be illiterate . Christopher Craig, who had dyslexia , attended the same school, but they had not met at the time, as Craig was almost three years younger than Bentley. Bentley was released from Kingswood school on 28 July 1950, and became a recluse for six months. In March 1951, Bentley found a job working for a furniture removal firm, later injuring his back in 1952, leaving the job. After leaving, Bentley first worked for the Croydon Corporation, and later as a waste collector but his work was found unsatisfactory and changed to street cleaning , later being sacked from that position also.

On 11 February 1952, Bentley was deemed unfit for National Service , due to his EEG test findings. On the night of 2 November 1952, Christopher Craig and Bentley tried to break into the warehouse of confectionery manufacturers and wholesalers Barlow & Parker on Tamworth Road, Croydon , England . The two youths were spotted climbing over the gate and up a drain pipe to the roof of the warehouse by a nine-year-old girl in a house across from the building. She alerted her parents and her father walked to the nearest telephone box and called the police. When the police arrived, the two youths hid behind the lift-housing. One of the Police officers , Detective Sergeant Frederick Fairfax , climbed the drain pipe onto the roof and grabbed hold of Bentley. Bentley broke free and was alleged by a number of police witnesses to have shouted the words "Let him have it, Chris". Both Craig and Bentley denied that those words were ever spoken. Craig, who was armed with a revolver, opened fire, grazing Fairfax's shoulder.

Nevertheless, Fairfax arrested Bentley, who is said to have told him that Craig had plenty of ammunition for his Colt New Service .455 Eley calibre revolver, for which Craig had a variety of undersized rounds, some of which he had had to modify to fit the gun. Craig had also sawn off half of the weapon's barrel, so that it would fit in his pocket. In his pocket Bentley had a sheath knife and a spiked knuckle-duster , though he never used either that night. Craig made the knuckle-duster himself and gave both weapons to Bentley. Following the arrival of uniformed officers, a group was sent onto the roof. The first to reach the roof was Police Constable Sidney Miles , who was immediately killed by a shot to the head. After exhausting his ammunition and being cornered, Craig jumped some thirty feet from the roof, fracturing his spine and left wrist when he landed on a greenhouse . At this point, he was arrested. Various medals were awarded to the several participating police officers, including one – posthumously – to Miles and the George Cross to Fairfax. Trial Craig would not have faced execution if found guilty, as he was below the age of 18 when PC Miles was shot.

Bentley, on the other hand, was not. The trial took place before the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Goddard , at the Old Bailey in London between 9 and 11 December 1952. The doctrine of 'constructive malice' meant that a charge of manslaughter was not an option, as the "malicious intent" of the armed robbery was transferred to the shooting. Bentley's best defence was that he was effectively under arrest when PC Miles was killed; however, this was only after an attempt to escape, during which a police officer had been wounded. As the trial progressed the jury had more details to consider.

The prosecution was unsure how many shots were fired and by whom and a forensic ballistics expert cast doubt on whether Craig could have hit Miles if he had shot at him deliberately: the fatal bullet was not found, Craig had used bullets of different under-sized calibres and the sawn-off barrel made it inaccurate to a degree of six feet at the range from which he fired.[citation needed] There was also the question of what Bentley had meant by "Let him have it", if indeed he had said it.[citation needed] Though in the gangster movies of the time the expression meant "shoot", it could also be construed as signifying that Bentley wanted Craig to surrender the gun.[citation needed] The Principal Medical Officer responsible was Dr Matheson and he referred Bentley to Dr. Hill, a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital . Hill's report stated that Bentley was illiterate and of low intelligence, almost borderline retarded . However, Matheson was of the opinion that whilst agreeing that Bentley was of low intelligence, he was not suffering from epilepsy at the time of the alleged offence and he was not a "feeble-minded person" under the Mental Deficiency Acts. Matheson said that he was sane and fit to plead and stand trial.

English law at the time did not recognise the concept of diminished responsibility due to retarded development , though it existed in Scottish law (it was introduced to England by the Homicide Act 1957 ). Criminal insanity – where the accused is unable to distinguish right from wrong – was then the only medical defence to murder. Bentley, while suffering severe debilitation, was not insane. The jury took 75 minutes to decide that both Bentley and Craig were guilty of PC Miles's murder. Bentley was sentenced to death with a plea for mercy on 11 December 1952, while Craig was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure (he was eventually released in 1963 after serving 10 years' imprisonment and has been a law abiding citizen ever since). Bentley's lawyers filed appeals highlighting the ambiguities of the ballistic evidence, Bentley's mental age and the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot. These efforts failed to reverse his conviction, however and the death sentence was mandatory . David Maxwell Fyfe , who had helped to draft the European Convention on Human Rights , had become Home Secretary when the Conservatives returned to office in 1951.

After reading the Home Office psychiatric reports he refused to request clemency from the Queen , despite a petition signed by over 200 of his fellow MPs. Parliament was not allowed to debate Bentley's sentence until it had been carried out.[citation needed] The Home Office also refused Dr. Hill permission to make his report public. At 9am on 28 January, 1953, Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison , London by Albert Pierrepoint . When it was announced the execution had been carried out, there were protests outside the prison and two people were arrested and later fined for damage to property. To Encourage the Others In his 1971 book To Encourage the Others, David Yallop documented Bentley's mental deficiencies, inconsistencies in the police and forensic evidence and the conduct of the trial. He proposed the theory that PC Miles was actually killed by a bullet from a gun other than Craig's sawn-off .455 revolver. Yallop drew this conclusion from an interview with Dr.

David Haler, the pathologist who carried out the autopsy on Miles, who Yallop reports estimated the head wound was inflicted by a bullet of between .32 and .38 calibre fired from between six to nine feet away. Craig had been firing from a distance of just under 40 feet and had used a variety of under-sized .41, and .45 calibre rounds in his revolver; Yallop asserted it would have been impossible for him to use a bullet of .38 or smaller calibre. Haler did not offer in his trial evidence any estimate of the size of the bullet that had killed Miles. Craig accepts that the bullet that killed Miles came from his gun, but maintains that all of his shots were fired over the rear garden of a house adjacent to the warehouse, approximately 20 degrees to the right of Miles's location from where Craig had been firing. The standard Metropolitan Police pistol at the time was the .32 Webley automatic, a number of which were issued on the night, although it was claimed[citation needed] that they arrived on the scene after Miles was killed and that the only ammunition not returned was two rounds fired by Fairfax.

At least one witness, however, claims[citation needed] to have seen armed officers on the scene before Miles was shot. In his book The Scientific Investigation of Crime, the prosecution's ballistics expert Lewis Nickolls stated that he recovered four bullets from the roof, two of .45, one of .41 and one of .32 calibre. The last was not entered as an exhibit in the trial, nor mentioned in Nickolls' evidence to the court. When Yallop telephoned Haler the day after the initial interview, he reportedly confirmed his estimate of the bullet size. Shortly before the publication of Yallop's book, Haler was provided with a transcript of the interview, and Yallop says Haler again confirmed as accurate. After the subsequent broadcast of the BBC Play for Today adaptation of To Encourage the Others (directed by Alan Clarke ) and starring Charles Bolton , Haler sought to deny that he had given any specific estimate of the size of the bullet that killed Miles beyond being "of large calibre".

Posthumous pardon Following the execution there was a public sense of unease about the decision, resulting in a long campaign, mostly led by Bentley's sister Iris, to secure a posthumous pardon for him. In March 1966 his remains were removed from Wandsworth Prison and reburied in a family grave. Then on 29 July 1993 Bentley was granted a royal pardon in respect of the sentence of death passed upon him and carried out. However in English law this did not quash his conviction for murder. Eventually, on 30 July 1998, the Court of Appeal set aside Bentley's conviction for murder 45 years earlier. Though Bentley had not been accused of attacking any of the police officers being shot at by Craig, for him to be convicted of murder as an accessory in a joint enterprise it was necessary for the prosecution to prove that he knew that Craig had a deadly weapon when they began the break-in. Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham of Cornhill ruled that Lord Goddard had not made it clear to the jury that the prosecution was required to have proved Bentley had known that Craig was armed.

He further ruled that Lord Goddard had failed to raise the question of Bentley's withdrawal from their joint enterprise. This would require the prosecution to prove the absence of any attempt by Bentley to signal to Craig that he wanted Craig to surrender his weapons to the police. Lord Bingham ruled that Bentley's trial had been unfair, in that the judge had misdirected the jury and, in his summing-up, had put unfair pressure on the jury to convict. It is possible that Lord Goddard may have been under pressure while summing up since much of the evidence was not directly relevant to Bentley's defence. It is important to note that Lord Bingham did not rule that Bentley was innocent, merely that there had been defects in the trial process. Had Bentley been alive in July 1998 or had been convicted of the offence in more recent years, it would have been likely that he would have faced a retrial. Another factor in the posthumous defence was that a "confession" recorded by Bentley, which was claimed by the prosecution to be a "verbatim record of dictated monologue", was shown by forensic linguistics methods to have been largely edited by policemen.

Linguist Malcolm Coulthard showed that certain patterns, such as the frequency of the word "then", and the grammatical use of "then" after the grammatical subject ("I then" rather than "then I"), was not consistent with Bentley's use of language (his idiolect ), as evidenced in court testimony [1] . These patterns fitted better the recorded testimony of the policemen involved. This is one of the earliest uses of forensic linguistics on record. In a case with similarities to the Bentley case, a House of Lords judgment of 17 July, 1997, cleared Philip English of murdering Sergeant Bill Forth in March 1993, the reasons being given by Lord Hutton . English had been handcuffed before his companion Paul Weddle killed Sgt Forth with a concealed knife. The existing joint enterprise law allowed the conviction of English for murder because they had both been attacking Sgt Forth with wooden staves, making English an accessory to any murder committed by Weddle as part of that assault. Lord Hutton made the 'fine distinction' that a concealed knife was a far more deadly weapon than a wooden stave, so that proof of English's knowledge of it was necessary for conviction.

The appeal may have influenced the allowing of a posthumous referral of the Bentley case. Lord Mustill had asked for new laws on homicide when setting out his reasons at the time of Lord Hutton's ruling on English's appeal. However, Lord Bingham's ruling blamed Lord Goddard for a miscarriage of justice without making further alteration to the law on joint enterprise. The English judgment, delivered just over two months after the Labour government took office, remained the most recent precedent in joint enterprise law, though the Bentley verdict attracted far more media attention. In popular culture The 1991 movie Let Him Have It , starring Christopher Eccleston as Bentley and Paul Reynolds as Craig, relates the story, as do the songs "Derek Bentley" by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger , " Let Him Dangle " by Elvis Costello , "Let Him Have It" by The Bureau, and "Bentley and Craig" by Ralph McTell . References ↑ R.M. Coulthard (2000): "Whose text is it? On the linguistic investigation of authorship", in S. Sarangi and R.M.

Coulthard: Discourse and Social Life, London, Longman, pp270–87 Yallop, David (1991). To Encourage/Others. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 9780552134514. External links

Question: Who was executed in 1953 at Wandsworth Prison for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles ?
Answer: DEREK BENTLEY