Published Quarterly by Lifeloom.com

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Sir Walter Scott

Fall 2004 Volume II issue 2

             At first glance it may appear that this is no place for a discussion on executions. After all, where is the mystery or the uncertainty in that? These people committed a capital crime and paid the due penalty of the law. No matter what your thoughts are on capital punishment, there is still no conundrum here.

             Yet I argue that there is much mystery in the stories behind the 865 people executed in the United Kingdom during the twentieth century and it is the research that tells the truth.

             We have, perhaps, all heard of the few people who have had their death sentences overturned since the law erroneously claimed their lives. Thus we have Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley, Mahmood Mattan, and lately George Kelly -- all innocent men who lost their lives at the end of an unforgiving rope. This is, however, just the tip of the iceberg.

             When writing my book The Encyclopaedia of Executions I examined each and every one of those 865 death sentences and concluded that around 100 of those sentenced were in fact innocent.

             Some of those 100 might well have been clinically insane and we, as a civilised country do not execute the insane. And yet we did. For the majority of that number, however, there was a much simpler answer to their charge: they were innocent.

             Some of those debatable cases are well known, such as that of James Hanratty but there are many lesser-known names who raised hardly a ripple at the time who may well have been innocent of the crime that claimed their lives. And this leads to the inevitable conclusion that the real killer escaped his or her fate and thus leaves behind a mystery as to what really happened

             There is no space here to go into even one of these cases in depth but the researcher who wishes to know more may visit my website at http://www.murderfile.net.

             This site covers every one of those 865 executed, noting the basic information on dates, places, victims and the like and, for those who wish to investigate further, there is a list of those who I believe did not deserve to die at the hands of the State. Some of the entries have photographs, many of which have never been published before.

             There are also fascinating nuggets of information behind these bare statistics too. For example, how many know that in twentieth century Britain, men were still being executed for rape, or that two people at least were hanged on their birthdays?

             Use the site to investigate further. Who knows, perhaps you will be able to add to my list of those who may well have died in terror, knowing that they were not guilty and having no-one to listen to their protestations.

Copyright 2004 by John J. Eddleston

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Sir Walter Scott