Speaker 1: Pushkin, Derek Bentley towered over the guards pacing beside him
Speaker 1: in the exercise yard of London's Wandsworth Prison. Derek was
Speaker 1: broader than his warders too. He was a physically imposing
Speaker 1: nineteen year old with the look of a weightlifter or
Speaker 1: a boxer. The prisoner's shock of yellow hair, worn long
Speaker 1: and combed back, as was the teen fashion in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty three, danced in the cold winter breeze. Occasionally, smoke
Speaker 1: from a cigarette would blow back into Derek's eyes, making
Speaker 1: him WinCE. But despite his bulk, a visitor to the jail,
Speaker 1: looking down at the scene and carefully sizing Bentley up,
Speaker 1: saw something childlike in the convict.
Speaker 2: In his great prison clause, he looked like a schoolboy
Speaker 2: dressed for some classroom charade.
Speaker 1: The prison doctors agreed. Since his arrest the previous November,
Speaker 1: they had subjected Derek to a battery of tests. The
Speaker 1: results revealed a low IQ, a dearth of literacy skills,
Speaker 1: and the developmental age god of nineteen but more like
Speaker 1: that of a child of eleven or twelve. The prisoner
Speaker 1: was deemed to be, in the parlance of the time,
Speaker 1: borderline feeble minded. In truth. There were many things that
Speaker 1: Derek Bentley didn't understand, but the most pressing was why
Speaker 1: he was in prison awaiting execution. He had broken into
Speaker 1: a warehouse, and during the course of that crime, a
Speaker 1: policeman had been shot dead, but Derek hadn't held the gun.
Speaker 1: Was already under arrest when the fatal shot rang out.
Speaker 1: The murderer, a sixteen year old named Christopher Craig, had
Speaker 1: been found guilty of the actual killing, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: going to hang. It all confused Derek Bentley. Why was
Speaker 1: he the one to die. Derek's family didn't think he
Speaker 1: should hang either. The trial jury had asked for the
Speaker 1: death penalty not to be imposed, so there seemed to
Speaker 1: be hoped that the authorities would heed this appeal for clemency. Indeed,
Speaker 1: so certain were the Bentless that he'd be freed, they'd
Speaker 1: wrapped Christmas presents for Derek, a tie and a box
Speaker 1: of chocolates, and placed them under the family tree. You
Speaker 1: can open them when you get home, was the implication.
Speaker 1: But as December gave way to January and the date
Speaker 1: of his execution drew near, the man who held Derrek's
Speaker 1: fate in his hands home Secretary David Maxwell Fife was
Speaker 1: in no mood to show leniency. A petition by more
Speaker 1: than two hundred members of Parliament, plus protests outside Downing
Speaker 1: Street and government offices, and finally, Maxwell Fife's own home
Speaker 1: hadn't yet prompted the cabinet minister to change his mind.
Speaker 1: On the evening before his son's scheduled execution, William Bentley
Speaker 1: led that noisy rally outside the politician's Smart London apartment.
Speaker 3: Bentley is not sleeping tonight, said William of his boy
Speaker 3: Anira Shall Maxwell.
Speaker 1: What the newspapers and radio were a buzz with these
Speaker 1: last minute moves. Political leaders, among the men who'd held
Speaker 1: senior legal positions, beseeched Her Majesty the Queen to intervene
Speaker 1: in a case that they said out of accord with
Speaker 1: natural justice. So at one minute to nine on the
Speaker 1: morning of January twenty eighth, when a well dressed man
Speaker 1: burst into the condemned cell, Derek Bentley assumed that this
Speaker 1: was legal counsel bringing word of a reprieve. Derek stood
Speaker 1: to receive the good news. The two prison officers who
Speaker 1: were his constant shadow, rose too. Then Derek noticed something
Speaker 1: peculiar in the stranger's hands was a loop of yellow leather. Swiftly,
Speaker 1: this was passed over Derek's wrists, finding them tightly behind
Speaker 1: his back. The man in the suit was no lawyer.
Speaker 1: This was Albert Pierpoint, England's chief hangman. If there was
Speaker 1: to be a reprieve, it had better happen soon. I'm
Speaker 1: Tim Harford and you're listening to another cautionary tale. Let's
Speaker 1: go back three months to November the two, nineteen fifty two.
Speaker 1: It's Sunday evening and darkness has fallen on a cold
Speaker 1: and grizzly day. Wiser Britons would seek to be safe
Speaker 1: beside a fire on such a night, but that wasn't
Speaker 1: the sort of evening Derek Bentley had in mind. Instead,
Speaker 1: he was out with his friend Christopher Craig, a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old whom Derek called Kid or Kiddo. By rights,
Speaker 1: Derek shouldn't have been hanging around with the younger boy
Speaker 1: at his age. He should have been conscripted into the military,
Speaker 1: but the authorities took one look at Derek and decided
Speaker 1: he was too mentally substandard to complete compulsory service. Despite
Speaker 1: his size, Derek was always thought by his teachers to
Speaker 1: be sheeplike and timid. When truancy and petty crime landed
Speaker 1: him in reform school, it was noted that his lack
Speaker 1: of intelligence prevents him from joining in many of the
Speaker 1: indoor games, and he is by no means a sportsman.
Speaker 1: When tested, Derek's low IQ placed him in the bottom
Speaker 1: one percent of the population. Today, someone like Derek would
Speaker 1: be said to have special needs and would we'd hope
Speaker 1: have those needs met. But the language used to describe
Speaker 1: Derek back then was brutal and sympathy for him limited.
Speaker 1: One expert pleaded that he be sent as far away
Speaker 1: from home as possible to a school for subnormals. Derek,
Speaker 1: who also suffered fits and seizures, fared little better in
Speaker 1: the world of work. He took a job moving furniture,
Speaker 1: but his back gave out. A career as a garbage
Speaker 1: collector was also brief. Within weeks, he was demoted to
Speaker 1: sweeping the streets and then fired Altogether mocked, rejected, and belittled,
Speaker 1: The team then retreated to the security of the Bentley
Speaker 1: family home. But on this dank November Sunday evening, Derek
Speaker 1: ventured away from the warmth of the hearth to catch
Speaker 1: a bus that would take him on a terrible misadventure.
Speaker 1: His choice of companion was his first mistake of that evening.
Speaker 1: Christopher Craig had ambitions to be a gangster. His older brother, Niven,
Speaker 1: had just begun a twelve year prison sentence for a
Speaker 1: shocking armed home invasion. Christopher had angrily watched his brother
Speaker 1: be convicted and learned a lesson, But it was not
Speaker 1: that crime doesn't pay. Instead, he decided that you shouldn't
Speaker 1: ever let yourself be caught.
Speaker 3: Still seething with.
Speaker 1: Resentment, Christopher hopped onto that southbound bus carrying a forty
Speaker 1: five Revolver in his pocket, a relic of World War One.
Speaker 1: The pistol's barrel had been shortened to make it easier
Speaker 1: to conceal. Its power and accuracy were further reduced because
Speaker 1: Christopher had struggled to find the right ammunition. All of
Speaker 1: the cartridges were intended for a smaller gun. Still, the
Speaker 1: weight of the firearm in his pocket, no doubt, pleased Christopher,
Speaker 1: making him feel like the Hollywood gangster of his phantasies,
Speaker 1: and he'd need that swagger the job he had in mind.
Speaker 1: The younger boy had dared Derek to join him breaking
Speaker 1: into a local butcher's shop. Derek was already carrying a
Speaker 1: small knife, but as their bus chugged towards their target,
Speaker 1: Christopher gave his friend a fearsome knuckle duster too.
Speaker 3: The robbery was a bust.
Speaker 1: Somebody was in the butcher's shop, but Christopher spotted a
Speaker 1: new opportunity the nearby warehouse of a candy company. Christopher
Speaker 1: scaled its gate, hoping to break in via the roof.
Speaker 1: Derek trailed behind. But they've been spotted. Constables from the
Speaker 1: nearby police station qui, we had them surrounded. Perhaps more
Speaker 1: athletic than his colleagues, Detective Constable Fred Fairfax was the
Speaker 1: first to climb the roof via a drain pipe in
Speaker 1: the gloom, He saw the boys scurry into hiding and
Speaker 1: called on them to surrender.
Speaker 3: If you want us fuck you welcome and get us,
Speaker 3: replied Christopher.
Speaker 1: Perhaps enraged by such impertinence, the constable rushed the burglars
Speaker 1: and grabbed hold of Derek before the youth broke free.
Speaker 1: It's here that eyewitness accounts differ. Derek denied shouting anything.
Speaker 1: A version of events backed by Christopher, the other policeman
Speaker 1: heard nothing or thought the shout came at a slightly
Speaker 1: different moment, but Fairfax was certain as he tussled with
Speaker 1: the hulking nineteen year old Derek yelled, let him have it, Chris.
Speaker 1: But was Derek simply pleading for his partner in crime
Speaker 1: to surrender the pistol he was now brandishing.
Speaker 3: Let him have it, Chris. Or was Derek.
Speaker 1: Channeling his inner James Cagney and growling for his friend
Speaker 1: to open fire.
Speaker 3: Let him have it, Chris.
Speaker 1: Christopher's opening shot hit Fairfax, grazing his upper arm. Undaunted,
Speaker 1: the officer grabbed Derek again and used the boy as
Speaker 1: a shield while he ran for cover. As more officers
Speaker 1: closed in, Christopher continued his fusal hard. He also kept
Speaker 1: up a barrage of taunts.
Speaker 3: Come on, you brave propers.
Speaker 1: Think of you what I am Craig, You just give
Speaker 1: it my brother twelve years Come on, you proppers, I'm
Speaker 1: only sixty. Two of these coppers had made it into
Speaker 1: the warehouse and were taking the stairs.
Speaker 3: Up to a door leading to the roof.
Speaker 1: Police Constable Sydney Miles kicked it open and burst out
Speaker 1: into the night. A bullet struck him between the eyes,
Speaker 1: killing him instantly. Cautionary tales returns in a moment. There
Speaker 1: was widespread revulsion at the murder of Sydney Miles. This
Speaker 1: is not England, said the vicar at Sydney's funeral, the.
Speaker 3: England for which men and women have laid down their lives.
Speaker 1: Sydney's coffin was topped by his police helmet and a
Speaker 1: wreath from his wife. Officers from across the country were there.
Speaker 1: Senior officials too, including the man ultimately responsible for law
Speaker 1: and order, the Home Secretary, David Maxwell Fife. The shooting
Speaker 1: on that warehouse roof unnerved the nation, partly because it
Speaker 1: was so unusual the number of times a year guns
Speaker 1: were fired in London robberies. You could count them on
Speaker 1: the fingers of one hand. And yes, the murder rate
Speaker 1: was rising, but from its lowest point for centuries. After
Speaker 1: his initial attempt to flee, Derek Bentley had meekly stood
Speaker 1: with the police, seemingly accepting his detention, but Christopher Craig
Speaker 1: had continued to exchange shots with armed police until his
Speaker 1: supply of ammunition exhausted.
Speaker 3: It flung himself from the rooftop.
Speaker 1: Though badly injured, he survived the fall, unrepentantly telling the
Speaker 1: arresting officer.
Speaker 3: I wish I killed a ducking enough.
Speaker 1: Given such violence and such brazenness, its little wonder that
Speaker 1: some people wanted to see an example made of these
Speaker 1: teen criminals. The topic even came up when Sir Charles Hardy,
Speaker 1: one of the most famous businessmen of the day, lunched
Speaker 1: with a certain Baron Goddard. The uncompromising Goddard, who basked
Speaker 1: in the nickname the Tiger, told his dining companion that
Speaker 1: Bentley and Craig had to be found guilty.
Speaker 2: At all costs.
Speaker 1: Such of you might not seem so remarkable given public anger.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty two, only Goddard was the Lord Chief
Speaker 1: Justice of England, the most senior judge in the land,
Speaker 1: and h just appointed himself to oversee the trial. William
Speaker 1: Edgar Reyner Goddard seems to have been a lifelong fan
Speaker 1: of the hangman. As a pupil at one of England's
Speaker 1: most exclusive private schools, he was said to recite word
Speaker 1: for word the death penalty.
Speaker 2: The sentence of the court is that you be taken
Speaker 2: from this place to a lawful prison, and thence to
Speaker 2: a place of execution.
Speaker 1: It was said to be Goddard's party piece, preferred to
Speaker 1: telling a joke or singing a song, and.
Speaker 2: That you may be hanged by the neck until you
Speaker 2: be dead, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul.
Speaker 1: As an adult, he remained an enthusiastic supporter of violent punishments,
Speaker 1: meeting out whippings and beatings for lesser offenses and hangings
Speaker 1: for more serious crimes. However, his elevation to the highest
Speaker 1: level of the judiciary came at a time that such
Speaker 1: views were being challenged. Following World War II, an election
Speaker 1: swept the anti hanging Labor Party into power, and many
Speaker 1: of the new socialist politicians taking their seats in the
Speaker 1: House of Commons were young servicemen returning from war, sick
Speaker 1: perhaps of violence. These elected politicians voted to end hanging
Speaker 1: only for the unelected lords in the Upper Chamber, where
Speaker 1: Baron Goddard sat, to overrule them. This sparked a constitutional crisis.
Speaker 1: The lords weren't supposed to defy the Commons, but a
Speaker 1: compromise was reached. A special commission would thoroughly review how
Speaker 1: the death penalty was administered.
Speaker 3: So thoroughly, in.
Speaker 1: Fact, that the report would take four whole years to complete,
Speaker 1: so hanging was reprieved, much to Goddard's delight. He threatened
Speaker 1: to resign as Lord Chief Justice whenever the repeal of
Speaker 1: the death penalty looked imminent. But with the political tide
Speaker 1: clearly shifting against execution, Goddard thought it was time for
Speaker 1: the justices beneath him to hand down death sentences whenever possible.
Speaker 2: I advise all judges to harden their hearts.
Speaker 1: The joint trial of Derrek Bentley and Christopher Craig took
Speaker 1: place at the Central Criminal Court, London's famous Old Bailey.
Speaker 1: The prosecution case against the sixteen year old Christopher was
Speaker 1: clear he'd fired the fatal shot. Derek, it was argued,
Speaker 1: was also a murderer because he had known Christopher was armed,
Speaker 1: and furthermore, had verbally encouraged him to open fire. Derek
Speaker 1: denied knowing anything about the pistol until it was drawn
Speaker 1: on Detective Fairfax, but the jury was told this version
Speaker 1: of events was almost inconceivable.
Speaker 2: I should think you would come to the conclusion that
Speaker 2: the first thing almost Craig would tell him if they
Speaker 2: were going on a shop breaking expedition, was it's all right?
Speaker 2: I got a revolver with me.
Speaker 1: This bold statement, not backed up by any evidence, was
Speaker 1: made not by the prosecutor, no, but by the judge,
Speaker 1: Tiger Goddard. From the outset the seventy five year old
Speaker 1: in his red robes and ceremonial Wig seems to have
Speaker 1: made good on his pledge that the pair would be
Speaker 1: found guilty at all costs. A judge's role at trial
Speaker 1: is complex, but the bedrock of their duty is to
Speaker 1: explain to jurors that the onus is on the prosecution
Speaker 1: to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. But at Derek
Speaker 1: Bentley's trial, Goddard didn't bother to explain what reasonable doubt meant.
Speaker 1: He did mention that it was for the prosecution to
Speaker 1: make their case and not for the defendants to prove
Speaker 1: their innocence, but he did so in a single sentence,
Speaker 1: adding grumply that he considered that such a reminder.
Speaker 2: Was hardly necessary.
Speaker 1: But don't be fooled into thinking Godard wasn't keen to
Speaker 1: address the twelve men in the jury box. He was
Speaker 1: with both defendants, denying that Derek had said let him
Speaker 1: have it, Chris. The jury only had the slightly confused
Speaker 1: testimony of the police witnesses to go on. Instead of
Speaker 1: pointing out that police officers don't have some special status
Speaker 1: as accurate and reliable witnesses, Goddard drew a direct link
Speaker 1: between the gallantry and resolution of the constables on the
Speaker 1: rooftop that night and their evidence to the court.
Speaker 2: They were conspicuously brave. Are you going to say they
Speaker 2: are conspicuous liars?
Speaker 1: That's quite something for a judge to tell a jury,
Speaker 1: given public outrage about the murder of a police constable.
Speaker 1: Goddard's other duty was to tamp down emotions in his
Speaker 1: courtroom and encourage the jurors to weigh the facts as
Speaker 1: presented and not let any personal prejudices or feelings of
Speaker 1: disgust or anger cloud their decisions. But instead, Goddard indulged
Speaker 1: in court room theatrics of the most stunning kind. At
Speaker 1: one point, he asked for the weapons found on Derek
Speaker 1: Bentley to be passed to him.
Speaker 2: Where is that knuckle duster? Have you ever seen a
Speaker 2: more horrible sort of weapon? You grasp it here, your
Speaker 2: fingers go through. I cannot quite get mine through. And
Speaker 2: you've got a dreadful heavy steel bar to strike anybody
Speaker 2: with and you can kill a person with this, of course,
Speaker 2: it is a shocking weapon.
Speaker 1: Goddard then held aloft small knife taken from Bentley, which
Speaker 1: he emotively referred to.
Speaker 3: As a dagger.
Speaker 2: What is he carrying that with him for?
Speaker 1: Godard didn't answer his own question, perhaps because one plausible
Speaker 1: response is that Derek Bentley had absolutely no plans to
Speaker 1: use the weapons. Derek was being tried an accessory in
Speaker 1: joint enterprise. It's clear that he was in a joint
Speaker 1: enterprise with his younger friend to rob the warehouse. He
Speaker 1: had scaled a gate and climbed atop the roof. Once
Speaker 1: discovered by Detective Fairfax. Derek had tried to run away,
Speaker 1: arguably in a joint enterprise, to evade arrest, but then
Speaker 1: quickly gave up that effort. Was the joint enterprise now
Speaker 1: at an end? Long before the murder of Constable Miles.
Speaker 1: Though armed with a knife and knuckle duster, Derek made
Speaker 1: no attempt to assault the policeman holding him, and as
Speaker 1: Christopher Craig kept up his angry, foul mouth taunting of
Speaker 1: the police, Derek stood meekly and quietly, occasionally expressing concern
Speaker 1: for the officer's safety.
Speaker 2: You want to look out, you'll blow your heads off.
Speaker 1: When Fairfax left his prisoner's side for a moment, Derek
Speaker 1: made no fresh attempt to bolt or rejoin his armed comrade.
Speaker 1: If indeed Derek had said let him have it, Chris,
Speaker 1: for those words to have earned him a guilty verdict,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have mattered how they sounded to the teen gunman,
Speaker 1: nor to the police, only that Derek had intended them
Speaker 1: as an incitement to open fire. But Derek's demeanor during
Speaker 1: his detainment was passive and acquiescent. The teen described as
Speaker 1: timid and sheep like all his life and with no
Speaker 1: history of violence, might easily have meant for Christopher Craig
Speaker 1: to surrender his pistol and accept his lawful arrest. It's
Speaker 1: certainly a possibility the jurors should have considered. Just before
Speaker 1: the jury retired to consider their verdict, Godard, having praised
Speaker 1: the prosecution case Fulseoen, mocked the defendant.
Speaker 2: Bentley's defense is I didn't know he had a gun,
Speaker 2: and I deny that I said let him have it, Chris.
Speaker 2: I never knew he was going to shoot, and I
Speaker 2: didn't think he would.
Speaker 1: The jurymen filed out to begin deliberations, ringing in their
Speaker 1: ears an exhortation from the highest judge in the land
Speaker 1: that they should use their common sense. They took just
Speaker 1: seventy five minutes to find both defendants guilty. Christopher Craig
Speaker 1: wouldn't hang, he was too young, and since there was
Speaker 1: a precedent that if a killer didn't hang, an accomplice
Speaker 1: wouldn't either, the jury asked that Derek's life be spared too.
Speaker 1: Goddard ignored their plea and recited the death penalty memorized
Speaker 1: at school. Derek would hang by the neck until.
Speaker 3: Dead, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul.
Speaker 1: The Lord Chief Justice had told his fellow judges that
Speaker 1: it wasn't their job to show pity to the prisoners
Speaker 1: in their dock.
Speaker 2: For said Goddard, in other and higher hands, mercy may
Speaker 2: be extended.
Speaker 1: So the Lord Chief Justice, having passed a death sentence,
Speaker 1: sat down to write a letter to a higher hand,
Speaker 1: the Home Secretary, David Maxwell Fife, the only man who
Speaker 1: could now save Derek from the hangman's noose. Cautionary tales
Speaker 1: will be back after the break. In the early morning
Speaker 1: January Gloom, a crowd stood at the gates of Wandsworth Prison,
Speaker 1: wrapped up against the cold, they sang hymns and recited psalms.
Speaker 1: There still seemed hope for Derek Bentley, even inside the
Speaker 1: prison where he was making his final macabre preparations and calculations.
Speaker 1: Hangman Albert Pierpoint wasn't sure his services would be required.
Speaker 2: After all, the possibility of a last minute reprieve still
Speaker 2: hung in the air stronger than I have ever known it.
Speaker 1: At the very heart of government there was, in fact
Speaker 1: a mood to show mercy. The most senior officials in
Speaker 1: the Home Office advised David Maxwell Fife to intervene to
Speaker 1: spare Derek's life, but the Home Secretary was taking his
Speaker 1: advice from Barn.
Speaker 2: I could find no mitigating circumstances in Bentley's case. I
Speaker 2: am convinced that he is a most dangerous criminal.
Speaker 1: In his own verdict on the case, which he called
Speaker 1: a very bad murder, Maxwell five said it would be
Speaker 1: dangerous to let Derek live, since that might encourage similar
Speaker 1: attacks on unarmed police. Given public anxiety about violent crime,
Speaker 1: he decreed that Derek must hang at eight point fifty
Speaker 1: nine a m in the condemned cell peer Point was
Speaker 1: now standing so close to Derek Bentley that he could
Speaker 1: talk to the boy in a whisper.
Speaker 3: Just follow me, lad, It's all right, Derek, Just follow me.
Speaker 1: Peer Point had conducted hundreds of executions and found that
Speaker 1: moving quietly and calmly but at speed encouraged compliance from
Speaker 1: the condemned. He feared that if Derek resisted, the powerfully
Speaker 1: built team could cause havoc. But sheep like to the end,
Speaker 1: Derek meekly followed Pierpoint into the adjoining execution chamber. The
Speaker 1: guards didn't even have to guide him. Derek helpfully stood
Speaker 1: on chalk marks drawn on the wooden trap door as
Speaker 1: Pierpoint gently placed first a white hood and then a
Speaker 1: noose over the boy's head. The executioner stepped over to
Speaker 1: a lever that opened the doors. Beneath Derek's feet, an
Speaker 1: assistant was tying the boy's legs together. When he was done,
Speaker 1: he gave Pierpoint the agreed signal. The crowd booed as
Speaker 1: a prison official came out to post two notices. One
Speaker 1: declared that Derek's execution had taken place before witnesses. The
Speaker 1: other certified that a surgeon had examined the body and
Speaker 1: deemed life to be extinct. The two pieces of paper
Speaker 1: were pinned inside a glazed display case, which someone in
Speaker 1: the crowd promptly smashed.
Speaker 3: I've murdered an innocent boy.
Speaker 1: Cried one protester, as others pelted prison officers and policemen
Speaker 1: with coins.
Speaker 2: It's murder, it's ard up.
Speaker 3: He's heard up. So.
Speaker 1: Just eighty seven days after the shot that killed police
Speaker 1: Constable Miles, Derek Bentley too was dead. The Bentley family,
Speaker 1: anything but meek or timid, fought on demanding a posthumous pardon.
Speaker 1: When Derek's parents died, his sister Iris devoted herself to
Speaker 1: the cause.
Speaker 3: I'm not the sort of person who gives in. I'll
Speaker 3: never never give up.
Speaker 2: When I die, I want that piece of paper that
Speaker 2: pardon put with me in my coffin.
Speaker 1: Iris was buried in nineteen ninety eight, but without Derek's pardon.
Speaker 1: Beside her cruelly, a ruling by the Court of Appeal.
Speaker 3: Was not far off.
Speaker 1: Few people had previously had the courage to contradict Godard,
Speaker 1: even after his death in nineteen seventy one, but the
Speaker 1: appeal judge was shocked by his handling of Derrek's case.
Speaker 1: He concluded that the Lord Chief Justice had not only
Speaker 1: denied Derrek a fair trial, but had done all he
Speaker 1: could to push the jury to convict. Overturning that conviction,
Speaker 1: the appeal judge said, it must be a matter of
Speaker 1: profound and continuing regret that this mistrial occurred, and that
Speaker 1: the defects we have found were not recognized at the time.
Speaker 1: Derek Bentley's remaining family rejoiced, and so did Christopher Craig,
Speaker 1: the gunman on that awful night in nineteen fifty two,
Speaker 1: served ten years in prison, and then rehabilitated, lived a quiet,
Speaker 1: law abiding life.
Speaker 3: Our day does not go by when I do not
Speaker 3: think about.
Speaker 1: Derek, said a now middle aged for Craig.
Speaker 2: Everybody knew that if a policeman dies, somebody asked to
Speaker 2: pay for it.
Speaker 3: I couldn't. I was underage, and Derek Bentley fitted the bill.
Speaker 1: So I had Goddard behaved so abominably and departed so
Speaker 1: far from the norms of the courtroom to send hapless
Speaker 1: Derek to his death. An obvious answer was that Goddard
Speaker 1: wielded immense power whilst also possessing a bullish and bullying personality.
Speaker 1: He never doubted his own judgment, nor did he tolerate
Speaker 1: others questioning him. That is an awful combination. Others have
Speaker 1: claimed that Goddard's obsession with violent physical punishments had a dark, perverse,
Speaker 1: even sexual bent. Having teenage boys beaten or hanged gave
Speaker 1: him pleasure. But one must consider a further motive. At
Speaker 1: a time when abolition seemed close, Godard pushed so fervently,
Speaker 1: so obscenely for Derek's death in a desperate bid to
Speaker 1: save hanging if Lord Chief Justice Goddard and Home Secretary
Speaker 1: David maxwell Fife had hoped the killing of the nineteen
Speaker 1: year old would bolster the popularity of capital punishment and
Speaker 1: stave off calls for its abolition, and they were wronged.
Speaker 1: Nearly three thousand angry telegrams had arrived at maxwell Fife's office,
Speaker 1: and the switchboard had been inundated with telephone calls. Many
Speaker 1: ordinary people were clearly appalled by the hanging. Abolitionists noted
Speaker 1: this public unease, and Derek's death was cited as a
Speaker 1: prime reason why punishment should now cease.
Speaker 2: Altogether, I am certain that the execution of that youngster
Speaker 2: was more like murder than anything Derek Bentley did himself.
Speaker 1: Said one campaigning politician, It.
Speaker 2: Is absolutely indefensible.
Speaker 1: In the wake of Derek's death, and reacting to public anger,
Speaker 1: the government changed how the death penalty was imposed, but
Speaker 1: these reforms failed to appeal to the common sense of
Speaker 1: ordinary citizens. A burglar who beat a homeowner to death
Speaker 1: would hang. A rapist who murdered his victim would not
Speaker 1: face the death penalty. If someone poisoned you, they'd due time,
Speaker 1: but if they shot.
Speaker 3: You, they'd be executed.
Speaker 1: Killing a prison guard triggered the death penalty, but murdering
Speaker 1: a child did not. Death sentences were passed on fewer
Speaker 1: and fewer occasions, and it became harder and harder to
Speaker 1: argue that hanging was in any way a deterrent to criminals.
Speaker 1: In August nineteen sixty four, a couple of petty criminals
Speaker 1: who'd stabbed a man during an attempted robbery were hanged
Speaker 1: on the same day. In other grislier cases, killer's lives
Speaker 1: had been spared, so many people were surprised that these
Speaker 1: two hangings had been allowed to go ahead. They would
Speaker 1: turn out to be the last. Goddard was by then
Speaker 1: in retirement, but even on his very last day in court,
Speaker 1: he had been sending business the Hangman's way. Albert Pierpoint
Speaker 1: had also retired. Before the abolition of his trade. Hid
Speaker 1: long combined stretching necks with pulling points, but now committed
Speaker 1: himself full time to running a pub.
Speaker 3: And tending bar.
Speaker 1: Gave him time to reflect on his previous occupation.
Speaker 2: If death were a deterrant, I might be expected to know.
Speaker 3: He wrote in his memoirs.
Speaker 2: I do not now believe that any one of the
Speaker 2: hundreds of executions I carried out has in any way
Speaker 2: acted as a deterrant against future murder. Capital punishment, in
Speaker 2: my view, achieved nothing except revenge.
Speaker 1: For a full list of our sources, see the show
Speaker 1: notes at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by
Speaker 1: me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly.
Speaker 1: It's produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound
Speaker 1: design and original music are the work of Pascal Wise.
Speaker 1: Additional sound design is by Carlos San Juan at Brain
Speaker 1: Audio Bend.
Speaker 3: The daff Haffrey edited the scripts.
Speaker 1: The show features the voice talents of Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford,
Speaker 1: Oliver Hembrough, Sarah Jupp, massaam Monroe, Alfred Warren, Jamal Westman
Speaker 1: and rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have been possible
Speaker 1: without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne, Sarah Nix,
Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey and Owen Miller.
Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded
Speaker 1: at Wardore Studios in London by Tom Berry. If you
Speaker 1: like the show, please remember to share, rate and review.
Speaker 1: It really makes a difference to us and if you
Speaker 1: want to hear the show, add free sign up to
Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus on the show page on Apple Podcasts or
Speaker 1: at pushkin dot fm, slash plus