Judicial Hanging!

Fifty years ago, on the 15^th August 1963, Henry John Burnett was the last man to be hanged in Scotland.

At the end of his three day trial, for the murder of Thomas Guyan, he was found guilty on the 25^th July 1963. The jury took only twenty-five minutes to complete it's deliberation and reach it's verdict of guilty on a 13 to 2 majority vote.

It was at 08:00 hours, in Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen, that Harry Allen, Chief Executioner in the United Kingdom, carried out the sentence of the court. The entry for cause of death on the Death Certificate of Henry John Burnett was 'Judicial Hanging'. It's a curious fact that the gallows used were the newest in the UK having been built in 1962. Not only was this the last hanging in Scotland but also the only hanging in Aberdeen for one hundred and fifty years.

Harry Allen was appointed Chief Executioner in October 1955 following the retirement of Albert Pierrepont, the long-serving hangman in England who executed at least 400 people. For fourteen years prior to his appointment as Chief Executioner Mr. Allen had acted as assistant to Mr Pierrepont.

On the 20^th December 1961 Mr. Allen carried out the last execution in Northern Ireland. This was of Robert McGaddery, in the Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. On the 13^th August 1964; just two days short of a year after that of Henry John Burnett; he officiated at one of the last two executions in the United Kingdom. He undertook the execution of Gwynne Owen Evans in Strangeways Prison, Manchester. At the same time, close-by in Walton Gaol, Liverpool, his colleague Robert Leslie Stewart (Joint Chief Executioner) terminated the life of Peter Anthony Allen. The two deceased had been found jointly guilty of the murder of John Alen West.

A further execution of note on the 15^th August was that of Josef Jakobs in 1941. Found guilty of being a German spy, he was executed by firing squad in the Tower of London. His was the last execution in the Tower of London.

A year after the executions of Evans and Allen, capital punishment was suspended as a result of 'The Murder(Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965'. Capital punishment for murder was abolished in 1969 in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland in 1973.

The inclusion of capital punishment, Judicial Murder, within the constitution and legal system of any country is abhorrent. No civilised, humane country should have the death penalty as a form of punishment within its legal system. Only barbarous states and countries, execute, murder, convicted criminals. Any religion that sanctions the use of the death penalty is a barbaric faith.

 © Elliot Sampford 2013

Trial of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is a 'blow to human rights', says Amnesty

Hugo Relva, Legal Adviser at Amnesty International, who is in Madrid to observe the trial of pioneering investigative Judge Baltasar Garzón , said: "It seems the search for truth, justice and reparation for past crimes,...committed during the civil war and Franco’s rule,....under international law in Spain is being held hostage to this trial based on outrageous charges".

Read more about the forthcoming trial here:AIUK : Spain: Trial of judge is a 'blow to human rights', says Amnesty and http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/spain-trial-judge-baltasar-garz-n-blow-human-rights-2012-01-20

The day I became an Executioner!

On the 40th anniversary of the execution, by firing squad, of Pedro Martínez Expósito, who had been judged guilty of the murder of two women, Vicente Torres describes, in an article in the El Pais newspaper, the day and his feelings when ordered to be a member of the military execution squad.


It is a moving article describing his feelings about his involuntary involvement and the action on the dreadful day. He says of the event "Did something change within us? Were we marked for life because of this? I suppose so; we certainly could not remain indifferent to it........I am neither ashamed nor proud of it, but I am hurt by it”.


He makes the further point of the event during Franco's dictatorship of Spain: "I was not about to help "do justice." If anything, I felt I was going to add yet one more injustice to the list. I have always considered Expósito's execution to be a crime, a public assassination that did not compensate for his crimes. I also thought the execution had a strong political component".


A very moving story about a barbaric act. One cannot ignore the fact that Pedro Martínez Expósito had ended the lives of two people and that justice had to be carried out for this crime. But vengeful and political based retribution is not justice. But that is what one saw from the Fascist, Roman Catholic Church supported, military government of Franco.


Vicente's thoughts can be read here:   The day I became an executioner · ELPAÍS.com in English

Judge slams police after teacher is acquitted of kissing a friend.

Well done to Mr William Stevenson QC.

Well done to the accused, David Owusu-Akyead for electing to go to the Crown Court for trial to be judged by his peers. Had he accepted the jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court he would most probably have been found guilty. 12 persons collective judgement is better than 3.

Read the full article here:Judge slams police after teacher is acquitted of kissing a friend - Telegraph