Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging
, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment
being abolished for murder (in 1969 in Great Britain and in 1973 in Northern Ireland
). Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.
, speaking to the House of Commons
on capital punishment in 1810, declared that "[there is] no country on the face of the earth in which there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England." Known as the "Bloody Code", at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, including "being in the company of Gypsies for one month", "strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age" and "blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime". Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act
of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching.
Whilst executions for murder
, burglary
and robbery
were common, the death sentences for minor offenders were often not carried out. However, children were commonly executed for such minor crimes as stealing. A sentence of death could be commuted or respited (permanently postponed) for reasons such as benefit of clergy
, official pardons, pregnancy of the offender or performance of military or naval duty. Between 1770 and 1830, 35,000 death sentences were handed down in England and Wales, but only 7000 executions were carried out.
There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation—sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), or execution—hundreds of offences carried the death penalty.
By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended.
The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, so as to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.
by the government) until the Judgement of Death Act 1823
gave judges the power to commute the death penalty except for treason
and murder
. The Punishment of Death, etc. Act 1832 reduced the number of capital crimes by two-thirds. Gibbet
ing was abolished in 1832 and hanging in chains was abolished in 1834. In 1861, several acts of Parliament (24 & 25 Vict; c. 94 to c. 100) further reduced the number of civilian capital crimes to five: murder
, treason
, espionage
, arson in royal dockyards
, and piracy with violence
; there were other offences under military law
. The death penalty remained mandatory
for treason and murder unless commuted
.
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-1866
concluded (with dissenting Commissioners) that there was not a case for abolition but recommended an end to public executions. This proposal was included in the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868
. From then executions in Great Britain were carried out in prison. The practice of beheading and quartering executed traitors stopped in 1870.
Juveniles under 16 could no longer be executed from 1908 under the Children Act 1908
. In 1922 a new offence of Infanticide
was introduced to replace the charge of murder for mothers killing their children in the first year of life. In 1930 a parliamentary Select Committee recommended that capital punishment be suspended for a trial period of five years, but no action was taken. From 1931 pregnant women could no longer be hanged (following the birth of their child) although in practice since the 18th century their sentences had always been commuted, and in 1933 the minimum age for capital punishment was raised to 18 under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933
. The last known execution by the civilian courts of a person under 18 was that of Charles Dobel, 17, hanged at Maidstone
together with his accomplice William Gower, 18, in January 1889.
In 1938 the issue of the abolition of capital punishment was brought before parliament. A clause within the Criminal Justice Bill called for an experimental five-year suspension of the death penalty. When war broke out in 1939 the bill was postponed. It was revived after the war and to everyone's surprise was adopted by a majority in the House of Commons (245 to 222). In the House of Lords
the abolition clause was defeated but the remainder of the bill was passed. Popular support for abolition was absent and the government decided that it would be inappropriate for it to assert its supremacy by invoking the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
over such an unpopular issue.
Instead, then Home Secretary
, James Chuter Ede
, set up a new Royal Commission
(the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 1949–1953) with instructions to determine "whether the liability to suffer capital punishment should be limited or modified". The Commission's report discussed a number of alternatives to execution by hanging (including the US methods of electrocution and gassing, and the then-theoretical lethal injection), but rejected them. It had more difficulty with the principle of capital punishment. Popular opinion believed that the death penalty acted as a deterrent to criminals, but the statistics within the report were inconclusive. Whilst the report recommended abolition from an ethical standpoint, it made no mention of possible miscarriages of justice. The public had by then expressed great dissatisfaction with the verdict in the case of Timothy Evans
, who was tried and hanged for murdering his baby daughter in 1949. It later transpired in 1953 that John Christie
had strangled at least six women in the same house; if the jury in Evans's trial had known this, Evans would probably not have been found guilty. There were other cases in the same period where doubts arose over convictions and subsequent hangings, such as the notorious case of Derek Bentley
.
The commission concluded that unless there was overwhelming public support in favour of abolition, the death penalty should be retained.
Between 1900 and 1949, 621 men and 11 women were executed in England and Wales. Ten German agents were executed during the First World War under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
, and 16 spies were executed during the Second World War under the Treachery Act 1940
.
By 1957 a number of controversial cases highlighted the issue of capital punishment again. Campaigners for abolition were partially rewarded with the Homicide Act 1957
. The Act brought in a distinction between capital and non-capital homicide. Only six categories of murder were now punishable by execution:
The police and the government were of the opinion that the death penalty deterred offenders from carrying firearms and it was for this reason that such offences remained punishable by death.
MP Sydney Silverman
, who had committed himself to the cause of abolition for more than 20 years, introduced a private member's bill
to suspend the death penalty, which was passed on a free vote
in the House of Commons by 200 votes to 98. The bill was subsequently passed by the House of Lords by 204 votes to 104.
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 suspended the
death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland (but not in Northern Ireland
) for murder for a period of five years, and substituted a mandatory sentence
of life imprisonment
; it further provided that if, before the expiry of the five-year suspension, each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent, then it would become permanent. In 1969 the Home Secretary
, James Callaghan
, proposed a motion to make the Act permanent, which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969, and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December. The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
.
Following the abolition of the death penalty for murder, the House of Commons held a vote during each subsequent parliament until 1997 to restore the death penalty. This motion was always defeated, but the death penalty still remained for other crimes:
However no executions were carried out in the United Kingdom for any of these offences, after the abolition of the death penalty for murder.
Nevertheless, there remained a working gallows at HMP Wandsworth, London, until 1994, which was tested every six months until 1992. This gallows is now housed in the Galleries of Justice
in Nottingham
.
in Liverpool
, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison
in Manchester
, were executed for the murder of John Alan West
on 7 April that year.
Scotland: Henry John Burnett
, 21, on 15 August 1963 in Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen
, for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan.
Northern Ireland: Robert McGladdery
, 25, on 20 December 1961 in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, for the murder of Pearl Gamble.
Wales: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea
on 6 May 1958, for the murder of William Williams, sub-postmaster of Fforestfach Post Office.
. Holden was removed from the death cell in May 1973.
England: David Chapman, who was sentenced to hang in November 1965 for the murder of a swimming pool nightwatchman in Scarborough. He was released from prison in 1979 and later died in a car accident.
Scotland: Patrick McCarron in 1964 for shooting his wife. He hanged himself in prison in 1970.
Wales: Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963. He had shot his wife's lover in Cardiff
.
.
The Naval Discipline Act 1957
reduced the scope of capital espionage from "all spies for the enemy" to spies on naval ships or bases. Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981 abolished the death penalty for espionage. (The Official Secrets Act 1911
had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.)
Beheading
was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973. However hanging remained available until 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell
, the death penalty was abolished for treason
and piracy with violence
, replacing it with a discretionary maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These were the last civilian offences punishable by death.
On 20 May 1998 the House of Commons voted to ratify the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
prohibiting capital punishment except "in time of war or imminent threat of war." The last remaining provisions for the death penalty under military jurisdiction (including in wartime) were removed when section 21(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998
came into force on 9 November 1998. On 10 October 2003, effective from 1 February 2004, the UK acceded to the 13th Protocol, which prohibits the death penalty under all circumstances, so that the UK may no longer legislate to restore the death penalty while it is subject to the Convention. It can only now restore it if it withdraws from the Council of Europe
.
As a legacy from colonial times, several states in the West Indies
still had the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
as the court of final appeal
; although the death penalty has been retained in these states, the Privy Council would sometimes delay or deny executions. Some of these states severed links with the British court system in 2001 by transferring the responsibilities of the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice
, to speed up executions.
and the bailiwicks of Guernsey
and Jersey
are British Crown dependencies
.
In the Channel Islands, the last death sentence was passed in 1984; the last execution in the Channel Islands was in Jersey on 9 October 1959, when Francis Joseph Huchet
was hanged for murder. The Human Rights (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 2006 amends the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 to give effect to the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
providing for the total abolition of the death penalty. Both of these laws came into effect on 10 December 2006. The 13th Protocol was extended to Guernsey in April 2004.
The last execution on the Isle of Man took place in 1872, when John Kewish
was hanged for patricide
. Capital punishment was not formally abolished by Tynwald
(the island's parliament) until 1993. Five persons were sentenced to death (for murder) on the Isle of Man between 1973 and 1992, although all sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The last person to be sentenced to death in the UK or its dependencies was Anthony Teare, who was convicted at the Manx Court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas
in 1992; he was subsequently retried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. In 2004 the 13th Protocol was adopted, with an effective date of 1 November 2006.
are constitutionally not part of the United Kingdom. However, the British government's ultimate responsibility for good governance of the territories has led it over recent years to pursue a policy of revoking all statutory provision for the death penalty in those territories where it had up until recently been legal.
The last executions in an overseas territory, and indeed the last on British soil, took place in Bermuda
in 1977, when two men, Larry Tacklyn and Erskine Burrows, were hanged for the 1973 murder of the then territory's Governor Sir Richard Sharples
.
In 1991, the British government extended an Order in Council to its Caribbean territories whose effect was to abolish capital punishment for murder: Anguilla
, the British Virgin Islands
, the Cayman Islands
, Montserrat
and the Turks and Caicos Islands
.
The British government was unable to extend the abolition via Order in Council to Bermuda, the UK's most autonomous overseas territory with powers of almost total self-governance—but warned that if voluntary abolition was not forthcoming it would be forced to consider the unprecedented step of "whether to impose abolition by means of an Act of Parliament". As a result the Bermudian government introduced its own domestic legislation in 1999 to rectify the problem.
Further measures have subsequently been adopted to revoke technicalities in British overseas territories' domestic legislation as regards use of the death penalty for crimes of treason and piracy. Since 2002, the death penalty has been outlawed under all circumstances in all the UK's overseas territories.
In August 2011, the Internet blogger Paul Staines
—who writes a political blog as Guido Fawkes and heads the Restore Justice Campaign—launched an e-petition
on the Downing Street
website calling for the restoration of the death penalty for those convicted of the murder of children and police officers. The petition was one of several in support or opposition of capital punishment to be published by the government with the launch of its e-petitions website. As of 12 August, an e-petition calling to retain the ban on capital punishment has received 20,000 votes, 17,000 more than the e-petition calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Petitions attracting 100,000 signatures would prompt a parliamentary debate on a particular topic, but not necessarily lead to any Parliamentary Bills being put forward.
Also in August 2011, a representative survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion
showed that 65% of Britons support reinstating the death penalty for murder in Great Britain, while 28% oppose this course of action. Men, respondents aged 35–54, and those over the age of 55 are more likely to endorse the change.
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
being abolished for murder (in 1969 in Great Britain and in 1973 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
). Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.
Background
Sir Samuel RomillySamuel Romilly
Sir Samuel Romilly , was a British legal reformer.-Background and education:Romilly was born in Frith Street, Soho, London, the second son of Peter Romilly, a watchmaker and jeweller...
, speaking to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
on capital punishment in 1810, declared that "[there is] no country on the face of the earth in which there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England." Known as the "Bloody Code", at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, including "being in the company of Gypsies for one month", "strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age" and "blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime". Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act
Black Act
The Black Act , was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1723 during the reign King George I of Great Britain in response to the Waltham deer poachers and a group of bandits known as the "Wokingham Blacks". It made it a felony to appear armed in a park or warren, or to hunt or steal...
of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching.
Whilst executions for murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
and robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
were common, the death sentences for minor offenders were often not carried out. However, children were commonly executed for such minor crimes as stealing. A sentence of death could be commuted or respited (permanently postponed) for reasons such as benefit of clergy
Benefit of clergy
In English law, the benefit of clergy was originally a provision by which clergymen could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ecclesiastical court under canon law...
, official pardons, pregnancy of the offender or performance of military or naval duty. Between 1770 and 1830, 35,000 death sentences were handed down in England and Wales, but only 7000 executions were carried out.
There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation—sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), or execution—hundreds of offences carried the death penalty.
By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended.
The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, so as to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.
Reform
In 1808 Romilly had the death penalty removed for pickpockets and lesser offenders, starting a process of reform that continued over the next 50 years. The death penalty was mandatory (although it was frequently commutedPardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
by the government) until the Judgement of Death Act 1823
Judgement of Death Act 1823
The Judgement of Death Act 1823 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Passed at a time when there were over 200 offences in English law which carried a mandatory sentence of death, it gave judges the discretion to pass a lesser sentence for the first time. It did not apply to...
gave judges the power to commute the death penalty except for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. The Punishment of Death, etc. Act 1832 reduced the number of capital crimes by two-thirds. Gibbet
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...
ing was abolished in 1832 and hanging in chains was abolished in 1834. In 1861, several acts of Parliament (24 & 25 Vict; c. 94 to c. 100) further reduced the number of civilian capital crimes to five: murder
Murder in English law
Murder is an offence under the common law of England and Wales. It is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury .-Actus reus:The definition of the actus reus Murder is an offence under the...
, treason
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...
, espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, arson in royal dockyards
Arson in royal dockyards
Arson in royal dockyards was among the last offences that were punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. It remained a capital offence even after the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1965, although John the Painter seems to be the only one ever actually executed for it, in 1777...
, and piracy with violence
Piracy Act 1837
The Piracy Act 1837 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with death...
; there were other offences under military law
Military law
Military justice is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states use special judicial and other arrangements to enforce those laws, while others use...
. The death penalty remained mandatory
Mandatory sentencing
A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where judicial discretion is limited by law. Typically, people convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison...
for treason and murder unless commuted
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
.
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-1866
Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-1866
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment was chaired by the Duke of Richmond. It worked from 1864 to 1866 and was in disagreement on abolition.-Appointment:The Government agreed to a Royal Commission on 3 May 1864...
concluded (with dissenting Commissioners) that there was not a case for abolition but recommended an end to public executions. This proposal was included in the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868
Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868
The Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 received Royal Assent on 29 May 1868, putting an end to public executions in the United Kingdom. The Act required that all prisoners sentenced to death be executed within the walls of the prison in which they were being held,and that their bodies be...
. From then executions in Great Britain were carried out in prison. The practice of beheading and quartering executed traitors stopped in 1870.
Juveniles under 16 could no longer be executed from 1908 under the Children Act 1908
Children Act 1908
The 1908 Children's Act, also known as Children and Young Persons Act, part of the Children's Charter was a piece of government legislation passed by the Liberal government, as part of the British Liberal Party's liberal reforms package...
. In 1922 a new offence of Infanticide
Infanticide Act
The Infanticide Act is the name of two Acts introduced into English Law that started treating killing of an infant child by its mother during the early months of life as a lesser crime than murder...
was introduced to replace the charge of murder for mothers killing their children in the first year of life. In 1930 a parliamentary Select Committee recommended that capital punishment be suspended for a trial period of five years, but no action was taken. From 1931 pregnant women could no longer be hanged (following the birth of their child) although in practice since the 18th century their sentences had always been commuted, and in 1933 the minimum age for capital punishment was raised to 18 under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933
Children and Young Persons Act 1933
The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
. The last known execution by the civilian courts of a person under 18 was that of Charles Dobel, 17, hanged at Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
together with his accomplice William Gower, 18, in January 1889.
In 1938 the issue of the abolition of capital punishment was brought before parliament. A clause within the Criminal Justice Bill called for an experimental five-year suspension of the death penalty. When war broke out in 1939 the bill was postponed. It was revived after the war and to everyone's surprise was adopted by a majority in the House of Commons (245 to 222). In the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
the abolition clause was defeated but the remainder of the bill was passed. Popular support for abolition was absent and the government decided that it would be inappropriate for it to assert its supremacy by invoking the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 are two Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form part of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Section 2 of the Parliament Act 1949 provides that that Act and the Parliament Act 1911 are to be construed as one.The Parliament Act 1911 The...
over such an unpopular issue.
Instead, then Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, James Chuter Ede
James Chuter Ede
James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede CH, PC, DL was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour politician. He notably served as Home Secretary under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.-Early life:...
, set up a new Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
(the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 1949–1953) with instructions to determine "whether the liability to suffer capital punishment should be limited or modified". The Commission's report discussed a number of alternatives to execution by hanging (including the US methods of electrocution and gassing, and the then-theoretical lethal injection), but rejected them. It had more difficulty with the principle of capital punishment. Popular opinion believed that the death penalty acted as a deterrent to criminals, but the statistics within the report were inconclusive. Whilst the report recommended abolition from an ethical standpoint, it made no mention of possible miscarriages of justice. The public had by then expressed great dissatisfaction with the verdict in the case of Timothy Evans
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
, who was tried and hanged for murdering his baby daughter in 1949. It later transpired in 1953 that John Christie
John Christie (murderer)
John Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
had strangled at least six women in the same house; if the jury in Evans's trial had known this, Evans would probably not have been found guilty. There were other cases in the same period where doubts arose over convictions and subsequent hangings, such as the notorious case of Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley 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...
.
The commission concluded that unless there was overwhelming public support in favour of abolition, the death penalty should be retained.
Between 1900 and 1949, 621 men and 11 women were executed in England and Wales. Ten German agents were executed during the First World War under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
Defence of the Realm Act 1914
The Defence of the Realm Act was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, during the early weeks of World War I. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war period, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for the war effort, or to make regulations creating...
, and 16 spies were executed during the Second World War under the Treachery Act 1940
Treachery Act 1940
The Treachery Act 1940 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland enacted during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, and suspended after the war and later repealed...
.
By 1957 a number of controversial cases highlighted the issue of capital punishment again. Campaigners for abolition were partially rewarded with the Homicide Act 1957
Homicide Act 1957
The Homicide Act 1957 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted as a partial reform of the common law offence of murder in English law by abolishing the doctrine of constructive malice , reforming the partial defence of provocation, and by introducing the partial defences...
. The Act brought in a distinction between capital and non-capital homicide. Only six categories of murder were now punishable by execution:
- in the course or furtherance of theft
- by shooting or causing an explosion
- while resisting arrest or during an escape
- of a police officer
- of a prison officer by a prisoner
- the second of two murders committed on different occasions (if both done in Great Britain).
The police and the government were of the opinion that the death penalty deterred offenders from carrying firearms and it was for this reason that such offences remained punishable by death.
Abolition
Murder
In 1965 the LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP Sydney Silverman
Sydney Silverman
Samuel Sydney Silverman was a British Labour politician and vocal opponent of capital punishment.-Early life:...
, who had committed himself to the cause of abolition for more than 20 years, introduced a private member's bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
to suspend the death penalty, which was passed on a free vote
Conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party....
in the House of Commons by 200 votes to 98. The bill was subsequently passed by the House of Lords by 204 votes to 104.
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 suspended the
death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland (but not in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
) for murder for a period of five years, and substituted a mandatory sentence
Mandatory sentencing
A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where judicial discretion is limited by law. Typically, people convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison...
of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
; it further provided that if, before the expiry of the five-year suspension, each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent, then it would become permanent. In 1969 the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
, proposed a motion to make the Act permanent, which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969, and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December. The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
The Northern Ireland Act 1973 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland, and established the Diplock courts in which terrorist offences were tried by a judge without a jury. It has mostly been repealed, the anti-terrorism...
.
Following the abolition of the death penalty for murder, the House of Commons held a vote during each subsequent parliament until 1997 to restore the death penalty. This motion was always defeated, but the death penalty still remained for other crimes:
- causing a fire or explosion in a naval dockyard, ship, magazine or warehouseArson in royal dockyardsArson in royal dockyards was among the last offences that were punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. It remained a capital offence even after the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1965, although John the Painter seems to be the only one ever actually executed for it, in 1777...
(until 1971Criminal damage in English lawIn English law, causing criminal damage was originally a common law offence. The offence was largely concerned with the protection of dwellings and the food supply, and few sanctions were imposed for damaging personal property...
); - espionageEspionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
(until 1981); - piracy with violencePiracy Act 1837The Piracy Act 1837 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with death...
(until 1998Crime and Disorder Act 1998The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998...
); - treasonHigh treason in the United KingdomUnder the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...
(until 1998Crime and Disorder Act 1998The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998...
); and - certain purely military offences under the jurisdiction of the armed forcesBritish Armed ForcesThe British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
, such as mutinyMutinyMutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
(until 1998Human Rights Act 1998The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
). Prior to its complete abolition in 1998, it was available for six offences:- serious misconduct in action;
- assisting the enemy;
- obstructing operations;
- giving false air signals;
- mutinyMutinyMutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
or incitement to mutiny; and - failure to suppress a mutiny with intent to assist the enemy.
However no executions were carried out in the United Kingdom for any of these offences, after the abolition of the death penalty for murder.
Nevertheless, there remained a working gallows at HMP Wandsworth, London, until 1994, which was tested every six months until 1992. This gallows is now housed in the Galleries of Justice
Galleries of Justice
The Galleries of Justice museum is a tourist attraction on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England. It is home to The Villainous Sheriff of Nottingham where you will discover Nottingham's horrible history and delve into the dark and disturbing past of Crime and PunishmentThe...
in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
.
Last executions
England and in the United Kingdom: on 13 August 1964, Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton PrisonLiverpool (HM Prison)
HM Prison Liverpool is a categoryB/C local men's prison, located in the Walton area of Liverpool in England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison
Manchester (HM Prison)
HM Prison Manchester is a high-security male prison situated in Manchester, England operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. It is a local Prison, holding prisoners remanded into custody from the courts in the Manchester area as well as a number of Category A prisoners.HM Prison Manchester was...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, were executed for the murder of John Alan West
John Alan West
John Alan West was a 53-year-old laundry van driver from Seaton, Cumberland, England, murdered by two men on 7 April 1964. His murder led to the executions of Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans — the last executions in the United Kingdom.-Crime and arrest:John West, who lived alone, had returned to...
on 7 April that year.
Scotland: Henry John Burnett
Henry John Burnett
Henry John Burnett was the last man to be hanged in Scotland and the first in Aberdeen since 1891. He was tried at the high court in Aberdeen between 23 and 25 July 1963 for the murder of merchant seaman Thomas Guyan...
, 21, on 15 August 1963 in Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan.
Northern Ireland: Robert McGladdery
Robert McGladdery
Robert Andrew McGladdery was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland.He battered, strangled and stabbed Pearl Gamble, aged 19, on 28 January 1961 and left her body at Upper Damolly, near Newry, County Down....
, 25, on 20 December 1961 in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, for the murder of Pearl Gamble.
Wales: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea
Swansea (HM Prison)
HM Prison Swansea is a Category B/C men's prison, located in the Sandfields area of Swansea, Wales. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is colloquially known as 'Cox's farm', after a former governor.-History:...
on 6 May 1958, for the murder of William Williams, sub-postmaster of Fforestfach Post Office.
Last death sentences
Northern Ireland and in the United Kingdom: William Holden in 1973 in Northern Ireland, for the capital murder of a British soldier during the TroublesThe Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
. Holden was removed from the death cell in May 1973.
England: David Chapman, who was sentenced to hang in November 1965 for the murder of a swimming pool nightwatchman in Scarborough. He was released from prison in 1979 and later died in a car accident.
Scotland: Patrick McCarron in 1964 for shooting his wife. He hanged himself in prison in 1970.
Wales: Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963. He had shot his wife's lover in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
.
Final abolition
The Criminal Damage Act 1971 abolished the offence of arson in royal dockyardsArson in royal dockyards
Arson in royal dockyards was among the last offences that were punishable by execution in the United Kingdom. It remained a capital offence even after the death penalty was abolished for murder in 1965, although John the Painter seems to be the only one ever actually executed for it, in 1777...
.
The Naval Discipline Act 1957
Naval Discipline Act 1957
The Naval Discipline Act 1957 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing discipline in the Royal Navy. It governed courts martial and criminal penalties for crimes committed by officers and ratings of the Royal Navy...
reduced the scope of capital espionage from "all spies for the enemy" to spies on naval ships or bases. Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981 abolished the death penalty for espionage. (The Official Secrets Act 1911
Official Secrets Act 1911
The Official Secrets Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889....
had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.)
Beheading
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973. However hanging remained available until 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998...
, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell
Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell
Peter Kingsley Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell, PC , is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords.He was previously the Member of Parliament for Rowley Regis and Tipton and for Warley West, having first been elected in the 1966 general election until his leaving the House of Commons at the 1992...
, the death penalty was abolished for treason
Treason Act 1814
The Treason Act 1814 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which modified the penalty for high treason for male convicts....
and piracy with violence
Piracy Act 1837
The Piracy Act 1837 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with death...
, replacing it with a discretionary maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These were the last civilian offences punishable by death.
On 20 May 1998 the House of Commons voted to ratify the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
prohibiting capital punishment except "in time of war or imminent threat of war." The last remaining provisions for the death penalty under military jurisdiction (including in wartime) were removed when section 21(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
came into force on 9 November 1998. On 10 October 2003, effective from 1 February 2004, the UK acceded to the 13th Protocol, which prohibits the death penalty under all circumstances, so that the UK may no longer legislate to restore the death penalty while it is subject to the Convention. It can only now restore it if it withdraws from the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
.
As a legacy from colonial times, several states in the West Indies
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
still had the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
as the court of final appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
; although the death penalty has been retained in these states, the Privy Council would sometimes delay or deny executions. Some of these states severed links with the British court system in 2001 by transferring the responsibilities of the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice
Caribbean Court of Justice
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community . Established in 2001, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago....
, to speed up executions.
Crown dependencies
Although not part of the United Kingdom, the Isle of ManIsle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and the bailiwicks of Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
and Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
are British Crown dependencies
Crown dependency
The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
.
In the Channel Islands, the last death sentence was passed in 1984; the last execution in the Channel Islands was in Jersey on 9 October 1959, when Francis Joseph Huchet
Francis Joseph Huchet
Francis Joseph Huchet was the last convicted criminal to be executed by hanging in the Channel Islands. He was 32 years old.He was sentenced to death on 10 September 1959 by the Deputy Bailiff of Jersey for the capital murder of John Perrée on the night of 30 March 1959...
was hanged for murder. The Human Rights (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 2006 amends the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 to give effect to the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
providing for the total abolition of the death penalty. Both of these laws came into effect on 10 December 2006. The 13th Protocol was extended to Guernsey in April 2004.
The last execution on the Isle of Man took place in 1872, when John Kewish
John Kewish
John Kewish, Jr. was the last person executed by the Isle of Man. He was convicted and executed for the crime of patricide.-Background:...
was hanged for patricide
Patricide
Patricide is the act of killing one's father, or a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater and the Latin suffix -cida...
. Capital punishment was not formally abolished by Tynwald
Tynwald
The Tynwald , or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It is claimed to be the oldest continuous parliamentary body in the world, consisting of the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Legislative Council.The Houses sit jointly, for...
(the island's parliament) until 1993. Five persons were sentenced to death (for murder) on the Isle of Man between 1973 and 1992, although all sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The last person to be sentenced to death in the UK or its dependencies was Anthony Teare, who was convicted at the Manx Court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas
Douglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
in 1992; he was subsequently retried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. In 2004 the 13th Protocol was adopted, with an effective date of 1 November 2006.
Overseas territories
Like the Crown dependencies, the British overseas territoriesBritish overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories of the United Kingdom which, although they do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, fall under its jurisdiction. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not acquired independence or have voted to remain British territories...
are constitutionally not part of the United Kingdom. However, the British government's ultimate responsibility for good governance of the territories has led it over recent years to pursue a policy of revoking all statutory provision for the death penalty in those territories where it had up until recently been legal.
The last executions in an overseas territory, and indeed the last on British soil, took place in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in 1977, when two men, Larry Tacklyn and Erskine Burrows, were hanged for the 1973 murder of the then territory's Governor Sir Richard Sharples
Richard Sharples
Major Sir Richard Christopher Sharples KCMG OBE MC , St. George, Bermuda) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda from late 1972 to 10 March 1973 when he was shot dead by assassins linked to the militant Black Beret Cadre, a small Bermudian Black Power group.-Career:Sharples passed out...
.
In 1991, the British government extended an Order in Council to its Caribbean territories whose effect was to abolish capital punishment for murder: Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
, the British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
, the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
, Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
and the Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...
.
The British government was unable to extend the abolition via Order in Council to Bermuda, the UK's most autonomous overseas territory with powers of almost total self-governance—but warned that if voluntary abolition was not forthcoming it would be forced to consider the unprecedented step of "whether to impose abolition by means of an Act of Parliament". As a result the Bermudian government introduced its own domestic legislation in 1999 to rectify the problem.
Further measures have subsequently been adopted to revoke technicalities in British overseas territories' domestic legislation as regards use of the death penalty for crimes of treason and piracy. Since 2002, the death penalty has been outlawed under all circumstances in all the UK's overseas territories.
Public support for reintroduction of capital punishment
A November 2009 television survey showed that 70% favoured reinstating the death penalty for at least one of the following crimes: armed robbery, rape, crimes related to paedophilia, terrorism, adult murder, child murder, child rape, treason, child abuse, or kidnapping. However, respondents only favoured capital punishment for adult murder, the polling question asked by other organisations such as Gallup, by small majorities or pluralities: overall, 51% favoured the death penalty for adult murder, while 56% in Wales did, 55% in Scotland, and only 49% in England.In August 2011, the Internet blogger Paul Staines
Paul Staines
Paul Staines is an English-born Irish right-wing political blogger. Writer of the pseudonymous "Guido Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours & conspiracy", which had as of February 2009, 118,000 visitors per month, his political blog has been described as "one of Britain's leading political...
—who writes a political blog as Guido Fawkes and heads the Restore Justice Campaign—launched an e-petition
Internet petition
An Internet petition is a form of petition posted on a website. Visitors to the website in question can add their email addresses or names, and after enough "signatures" have been collected, the resulting letter may be delivered to the subject of the petition, usually via e-mail.-Pros and cons:The...
on the Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
website calling for the restoration of the death penalty for those convicted of the murder of children and police officers. The petition was one of several in support or opposition of capital punishment to be published by the government with the launch of its e-petitions website. As of 12 August, an e-petition calling to retain the ban on capital punishment has received 20,000 votes, 17,000 more than the e-petition calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Petitions attracting 100,000 signatures would prompt a parliamentary debate on a particular topic, but not necessarily lead to any Parliamentary Bills being put forward.
Also in August 2011, a representative survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion
Angus Reid Public Opinion
Angus Reid Public Opinion is an international public affairs practice. It was established in 2006 under the name Angus Reid Strategies by Dr Angus Reid, a Canadian sociologist who founded his first research company in 1979. Reid sold the Angus Reid Group to Paris-based Ipsos SA in 2000...
showed that 65% of Britons support reinstating the death penalty for murder in Great Britain, while 28% oppose this course of action. Men, respondents aged 35–54, and those over the age of 55 are more likely to endorse the change.
Notable executions in the United Kingdom
Note: This list does not include the beheadings of nobility.- 1724, 16 November: Jack SheppardJack SheppardJack Sheppard was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete...
, housebreaker, was hanged at Tyburn for burglaryBurglaryBurglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
after four successful escape attempts from jail. His partner-in-crime, highwayman Joseph "Blueskin" Blake, was executed for the same burglary five days earlier. - 1725, 24 May: Jonathan WildJonathan WildJonathan Wild was perhaps the most infamous criminal of London — and possibly Great Britain — during the 18th century, both because of his own actions and the uses novelists, playwrights, and political satirists made of them...
, criminal overlord and fraudulent "Thief Taker General", was hanged at Tyburn (over six months after Jack Sheppard's and Blueskin's executions) for receiving stolen goods and thus aiding criminals. - 1739: Dick TurpinDick TurpinRichard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...
, famous highwayman, was hanged. - 1746, 30 July: nine Catholic members of the Manchester Regiment, Jacobites, were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at Kennington Common (now Kennington ParkKennington ParkKennington Park is in Kennington in London, England, and lies between Kennington Park Road and St Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854. Previously the site had been Kennington Common. This is where the Chartists gathered for their biggest 'monster rally' on 10 April 1848...
). - 1750: James MacLaineJames MacLaine"Captain" James MacLaine was a notorious highwayman with his accomplice William Plunkett. He was known as the "Gentleman Highwayman" as a result of his courteous behaviour during his robberies. He famously robbed Horace Walpole, and was eventually hanged at Tyburn...
, 'The Gentleman Highwayman', was hanged at Tyburn, LondonTyburn, LondonTyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch in present-day London. It took its name from the Tyburn or Teo Bourne 'boundary stream', a tributary of the River Thames which is now completely covered over between its source and its outfall into the... - 1757: John ByngJohn ByngAdmiral John Byng was a Royal Navy officer. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to Vice-Admiral in 1747...
became the only British admiral executed, by firing squad by the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. His crime was to have failed to "do his utmost" at the Battle of MinorcaBattle of MinorcaThe Battle of Minorca was a naval battle between French and British fleets. It was the opening sea battle of the Seven Years' War in the European theatre. Shortly after Great Britain declared war on the House of Bourbon, their squadrons met off the Mediterranean island of Minorca. The fight...
during the Seven Years WarGreat Britain in the Seven Years WarThe Kingdom of Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the...
. - 1760, 5 May: Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl FerrersLaurence Shirley, 4th Earl FerrersLaurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers was the last member of the House of Lords hanged in England.The 4th Earl Ferrers, descendant of an ancient and noble family, was the eldest son of Hon. Laurence Ferrers, himself a younger son of the Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers-a descendant of Robert...
was executed at Tyburn for the murder of a servant. He was the last peerPeerageThe Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
to be hanged (reputedly by a silken rope) and is the only peer to have been hanged for murder. - 1789: Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (counterfeiter)Catherine Murphy was an English counterfeiter, the last woman to be officially sentenced and executed by the method of burning in England and Great Britain....
, a counterfeiter, was the last woman executed under a sentence of burning at the stake in England (though Murphy was in fact strangled before the fire was lit, and thus not literally burned to death). The penalty of burning at the stake, which applied to women and not to men, was abolished the next year. - 1812, 18 May: John BellinghamJohn BellinghamJohn Bellingham was the assassin of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. This murder was the only successful attempt on the life of a British Prime Minister...
was hanged for the murder of Prime Minister Spencer PercevalSpencer PercevalSpencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
. - 1820: Andrew Hardie and John BairdJohn Baird (revolutionary)John Baird was a Scottish revolutionary. A weaver by trade, he was brought up in the village of Condorrat...
were hanged and beheaded at StirlingStirlingStirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
after being tried for their part in the Radical WarRadical WarThe Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the early years of the French Revolution, but had then been repressed...
in Scotland. - 1828, 11 August: William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red BarnRed Barn MurderThe Red Barn Murder was a notorious murder committed in Polstead, Suffolk, England, in 1827. A young woman, Maria Marten, was shot dead by her lover, William Corder. The two had arranged to meet at the Red Barn, a local landmark, before eloping to Ipswich. Maria was never heard from again...
a year before. - 1856, 9 August: Elizabeth Martha BrownElizabeth Martha BrownElizabeth Martha Brown , née Clark, was the last woman to be hanged in public in Dorset, England. She was executed outside Dorchester Prison after being convicted of the murder of her second husband, John Brown, on July 22, just 13 days earlier...
was the last woman to be hanged in public in the English county of DorsetDorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
; her hanging is notable in part because it influenced Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, an eyewitness, in his portrayal of the execution of the fictional heroine of Tess of the D'UrbervillesTess of the d'UrbervillesTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...
. - 1861, 27 August: Martin Doyle was the last person to be hanged for attempted murder, at ChesterChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. - 1868, 2 April: Frances KidderFrances Kidder-Crime:Twenty-five-year-old Kidder was executed in front of Maidstone Goal at 12 noon on 2 April 1868, following her conviction on 12 March for murder. It was alleged that she had drowned her 11-year-old stepdaughter, Louisa Kidder-Staples, in a ditch...
was the last woman to be hanged in public in Britain. - 1868, 26 May: Michael BarrettMichael Barrett (Fenian)Michael Barrett was born in Drumnagreshial in the Ederney area of County Fermanagh. In his adult years he became a member of the Fenians....
was executed at Newgate PrisonNewgate PrisonNewgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
for the FenianFenianThe Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...
bombing at ClerkenwellClerkenwellClerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, the last public hanging in the UK. - 1899, 19 July: Mary AnsellMary AnsellMary Ann Ansell, a house-maid, was hanged at St Albans, on 19 July 1899 for poisoning her sister, Caroline, who was an inmate in an asylum. Her intention appeared to be to obtain 11 pounds, from an insurance cover on Caroline which she had taken out....
was hanged at St Albans, for poisoning her sister. At 22 she was the youngest woman to be hanged in the post-1868 'modern era' (non-public, and by the 'long drop' method). - 1910, 23 November: Hawley Harvey CrippenHawley Harvey CrippenHawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopathic physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on November 23, 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen...
was hanged in London's Pentonville Prison for the poisoning murder of his wife. - 1914, 8 September: Private Thomas HighgateThomas HighgatePrivate Thomas James Highgate was a British soldier during the early days of the First World War, and the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed during that war...
was executed by firing squad, the first British soldier to be executed for desertionDesertionIn military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
during World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. - 1915, 13 August: George Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph Smith was an English serial killer and bigamist. In 1915 he was convicted and subsequently hanged for the slayings of three women, the case becoming known as the "Brides in the Bath Murders". As well as being widely reported in the media, the case was a significant case in the...
was hanged in Maidstone Prison for the pattern of serial killings known as the "Brides in the Bath Murders". - 1916, 3 August: Roger CasementRoger CasementRoger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....
was hanged at Pentonville for treason, based on his attempt to smuggle German weapons into Ireland in support of the unsuccessful Irish Easter RisingEaster RisingThe Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
. - 1920, 2 November: Private James Daly of the Connaught Rangers was shot for mutiny in India, the last member of the British Armed Forces to be executed for mutinyMutinyMutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
. - 1923, 9 January: Edith Thompson and Frederick BywatersEdith Thompson and Frederick BywatersEdith Jessie Thompson and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters were a British couple who were executed for the murder of Thompson’s husband Percy...
, in London's Holloway and Pentonville Prisons respectively, for the murder of Thompson's husband. The case was controversial because, although the two lovers had discussed the possible elimination of her husband in advance, Thompson did not directly participate in the murder for which she was hanged. - 1931, 3 January: Victor BettsR v Betts and RidleyR v Betts and Ridley is a landmark case in English criminal law from 1930, which established that to be convicted of a crime under the doctrine of Common purpose, it was not necessary for an accessory to actually be present when the offence was carried out.-Facts:Victor Betts and Herbert Ridley...
for murder committed during the course of a robbery. The case had established that a person need not be present when a crime is committed to be regarded as an accessory after the fact. - 1940, 31 July: Udham SinghUdham SinghUdham Singh was an Indian independence activist, best known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer in March 1940 in what has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre....
, a Indian Freedom Fighter was hanged till death at Pentonville Prison. He was charged with the murder of Michael O'Dwyer. - 1941, 15 August: Josef JakobsJosef JakobsCorporal Josef Jakobs was a German spy, who was executed by firing squad in the Tower of London during the Second World War after conviction under the Treachery Act 1940. His trial took place in camera...
, a German spy, was executed by firing squad, the last execution in the Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. - 1946, 3 January: William JoyceWilliam JoyceWilliam Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
, better known as "Lord Haw-HawLord Haw-HawLord Haw-Haw was the nickname of several announcers on the English-language propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in Great Britain on the medium wave station Reichssender Hamburg and by shortwave to the United States...
", for treason in London's Wandsworth Prison. He was an American citizen, but was convicted of treason because, as the holder of a British passportBritish passportBritish passports may be issued to people holding any of the various forms of British nationality, and are used as evidence of the bearer's nationality and immigration status within the United Kingdom or the issuing state/territory.-Issuing:...
(albeit fraudulently obtained), he was held to have owed allegiance to the British sovereign. Theodore SchurchTheodore SchurchTheodore William John Schurch was an Anglo-Swiss soldier who was executed for treachery following the end of the Second World War. He was the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than murder.-Early life:...
, hanged for treachery the next day, was the last person to be executed for an offence other than murder; he was executed at Pentonville. As a member of the armed forces he had been tried by court-martialCourt-martialA court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
. - 1947, 27 February: Walter Rowland in Manchester for the murder of Olive Balchin despite maintaining his innocence. While he had been awaiting execution, another man confessed to the crime. A Home OfficeHome OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
report dismissed the latter's confession as a fake, but in 1951 he attacked another woman and was found guilty but insane. - 1949, 12 January: Margaret Allen, aged 43, for killing a 70-year-old woman in the course of a robbery, the first woman to be hanged in Britain for 12 years.
- 1949, 10 August: John George HaighJohn George HaighJohn George Haigh , commonly known as the "Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English serial killer during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine...
, the "acid-bath murderer", at WandsworthWandsworthWandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
. - 1950, 9 March: Timothy EvansTimothy EvansTimothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
at Pentonville for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine at 10 Rillington Place, North West LondonNorth LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. He initially claimed to have killed his wife, but later withdrew the claim. A fellow inhabitant at the same address, John ChristieJohn Christie (murderer)John Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
, later found to be a sexual serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, gave key evidence against Evans. Christie was executed in 1953 for the murder of his own wife. Evans received a posthumous pardon in 1966. In 2004 the Court of AppealCourt of Appeal of England and WalesThe Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
refused to consider overturning the conviction due to the costs and resources that would be involved. See John Christie (murderer). - 1950, 28 March: George Kelly at Liverpool for murder, but had his conviction quashed posthumously by the Court of AppealCourt of Appeal of England and WalesThe Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
in June 2003. - 1952, 25 April: Edward Devlin and Alfred Burns, for killing a woman during a robbery in LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. They claimed that they had been doing a different burglary in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, and others involved in the crime supported this. A Home Office report rejected this evidence. Huge crowds gathered outside Liverpool's Walton PrisonLiverpool (HM Prison)HM Prison Liverpool is a categoryB/C local men's prison, located in the Walton area of Liverpool in England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
as they were executed. - 1952, 3 September: Mahmood Hussein MattanMahmood Hussein MattanMahmood Hussein Mattan was a Somali former merchant seaman who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert on 6 March 1952. The murder took place in the Docklands area of Cardiff, Wales and Mattan was mainly convicted on the evidence of a single prosecution witness...
, a SomaliSomali peopleSomalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
seaman, in CardiffCardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
for murder. The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction posthumously in 1998 after hearing that crucial evidence implicating another Somali was withheld at his trial. - 1953, 28 January: Derek BentleyDerek BentleyDerek William Bentley 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...
at Wandsworth Prison as an accomplice to the murder of a police officer by his 16-year-old friend Christopher Craig. Craig, a minor, was not executed and instead served 10 years. Bentley was granted a posthumous pardon on 29 July 1993, and the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction on 30 July 1998. - 1953, 15 July: John Reginald Halliday ChristieJohn Reginald Halliday ChristieJohn Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
at Pentonville for the murder of his wife Ethel. Christie was a serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
and had murdered at least six other women (see also entry on Timothy EvansTimothy EvansTimothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
above). - 1954, 13 December: Styllou ChristofiStyllou ChristofiStyllou Pantopiou Christofi was a Greek Cypriot woman hanged in Britain for murdering her daughter-in-law. She was the second to last woman to be executed in Britain, followed in 1955 by Ruth Ellis.-Background:...
, aged 53, penultimate woman executed in Britain. - 1955, 12 July: Ruth EllisRuth EllisRuth Ellis , née Neilson, was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. She was convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely, and hanged at Holloway Prison, London, by Albert Pierrepoint.-Biography:...
, aged 28, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was the 15th and youngest woman hanged in the 20th century. - 1958, 6 May: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea, the last person to be executed in Wales.
- 1958, 11 July: Peter ManuelPeter ManuelPeter Thomas Anthony Manuel was a United States-born Scottish serial killer who is known to have murdered nine people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958, although he is suspected of having killed as many as eighteen...
, aged 31, second to last person to be hangedHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
in HM Prison Barlinnie and the third to last to be hanged in Scotland. - 1959, 9 October: Francis Joseph HuchetFrancis Joseph HuchetFrancis Joseph Huchet was the last convicted criminal to be executed by hanging in the Channel Islands. He was 32 years old.He was sentenced to death on 10 September 1959 by the Deputy Bailiff of Jersey for the capital murder of John Perrée on the night of 30 March 1959...
, 31, in St Helier, JerseyJerseyJersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, the last person to be executed in the Channel IslandsChannel IslandsThe Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. - 1959, 5 November: Guenther PodolaGuenther PodolaGuenther Fritz Erwin Podola was a German-born petty thief, and the last man to be hanged in Britain for killing a police officer. His trial was notable and controversial because of his defence of amnesia and the use of expert witnesses to determine whether his illness was real.-Life:Podola was...
, the last person to be hanged for the murder of a policeman. - 1960, 10 November: Francis Forsyth, the last 18-year-old to be executed in Britain.
- 1960, 22 December: Anthony MillerAnthony Miller (murderer)Anthony Joseph Miller became the second-last criminal to be executed in Scotland on 22 December 1960 when he was hanged on the gallows at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison by Harry Allen, assisted by Robert Leslie Stewart. Miller had been convicted of murdering John Cremin at Queen's Park Recreation...
, 19, in GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
's Barlinnie Prison, the last teenager to be executed in Britain. - 1961, 20 December: Robert McGladderyRobert McGladderyRobert Andrew McGladdery was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland.He battered, strangled and stabbed Pearl Gamble, aged 19, on 28 January 1961 and left her body at Upper Damolly, near Newry, County Down....
, 25, in Crumlin Road Gaol in BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, the last person to be executed in Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, for the murder of Pearl Gamble in NewryNewryNewry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
. - 1962, 4 April: James HanrattyJames HanrattyJames Hanratty , a petty criminal with no history of violence, was the eighth-to-last person in the United Kingdom to be hanged after being convicted of the murder of Michael Gregsten at Deadman's Hill on the A6, near the village of Clophill, Bedfordshire, England, on 23 August 1961...
at BedfordBedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
after a controversial rape-murder trial. In 2002 Hanratty's body was exhumed and the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction after Hanratty's DNA was linked to crime scene samples. - 1963, 15 August: Henry BurnettHenry John BurnettHenry John Burnett was the last man to be hanged in Scotland and the first in Aberdeen since 1891. He was tried at the high court in Aberdeen between 23 and 25 July 1963 for the murder of merchant seaman Thomas Guyan...
, aged 21, at Craiginches Prison in AberdeenAberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan, the last hanging in Scotland. - 1964, 13 August: Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton PrisonLiverpool (HM Prison)HM Prison Liverpool is a categoryB/C local men's prison, located in the Walton area of Liverpool in England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
in LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways PrisonManchester (HM Prison)HM Prison Manchester is a high-security male prison situated in Manchester, England operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. It is a local Prison, holding prisoners remanded into custody from the courts in the Manchester area as well as a number of Category A prisoners.HM Prison Manchester was...
in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
for the murder of John Alan WestJohn Alan WestJohn Alan West was a 53-year-old laundry van driver from Seaton, Cumberland, England, murdered by two men on 7 April 1964. His murder led to the executions of Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans — the last executions in the United Kingdom.-Crime and arrest:John West, who lived alone, had returned to...
, the last people executed in Britain.
See also
- Black CapBlack CapIn English law, the black cap was worn by a judge when passing a sentence of death. Although it is called a "cap", it is not made to fit the head like a typical cap does; instead it is a simple plain square made of black fabric...
- Christopher SimcoxChristopher SimcoxChristopher Simcox was an English double murderer, notable and perhaps unique in being twice sentenced to death, and twice reprieved....
- Courts of the United KingdomCourts of the United KingdomThe Courts of the United Kingdom are separated into three separate jurisidictions, the Courts of England and Wales, Courts of Scotland and the Courts of Northern Ireland, as the United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system....
- Execution by firing squad in the United Kingdom
- List of executioners
- Shot at Dawn MemorialShot at Dawn MemorialThe Shot at Dawn Memorial is a British Monument at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, UK in memory of the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for cowardice and desertion during World War I...
- Wrongful executionWrongful executionWrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment, the "death penalty." Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by the opponents of capital punishment....