Craig and Bentley

[Limehouse]

It was 55 years ago this January that Derek Bentley was hanged for the 'murder' of PC Sidney Miles on the rooftop of a Croydon warehouse.

Anyone interested in this case?

[sdreid]

I don't think he should have been hanged and wonder why the Queen didn't stop it. The film about the case, Let Him Have It, is great.

[Chris Scott]

The Bentley case, along with those of Timothy Evans and Ruth Ellis, is often seen as a pivotal case in the lead up to the abolition of hanging. However, it is important to bear in mind the dates of these events. Evans was hanged in 1950, Bentley in 1953 and Ellis in 1955. However, the last judicial hanging in the UK did not take place until 1964 in the case of Allen and Evans. A moratorium was declared on the death penalty for murder in 1965. In 1969 Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder but it was retained for three offences - arson in the Queen's dockyards, treason and piracy with violence. The death penalty was finally abolished for all offences as recently as 1999. In this context the old offences of High and Low Treason had been combined under the Treason Act into just three offences:
1) Killing or attempting to kill the Sovereign
2) Killing or attempting to kill the heir to the throne
3) Denying the Sovereign's right to occupy the throne.
This last offence did not include anyone advocating republicanism (i.e. the abolition of the monarchy) but rather supporting a rival candidate for the Throne.
It is also important to bear in mind that, despite the frequent calls both in the Press and in public opinion polls, the British Parliament could not reintroduce the death penalty even if it wished to. The only way this could be achieved would be to withdraw from membership of the EU as it is a condition of membership that no member state has the death penalty.
With the regard to the Queen stopping it, the prerogative of mercy, though technically part of the powers of the Crown, was decided purely by the Home Secretary of the day. Under the rules then prevailing, for reasons which I have never understood, the Home Secretary had to take this decision entirely alone and without consultation.
We must be wary of judging this case (or any other) by the standards of contemporary sensibilities and not those that prevailed at the time. My own feeling (and though around at the time of the Bentley case I do not remember it!) is that if both Bentley and Craig had hanged that public outrage would have been much less. The crucial fact is that Craig, at the age of 16, was too young to hang. Bentley, aged 18, was above the age when the penalty could be carried out. Modern feeling, I suspect, would be that it seems absurd that the youth who shot PC Miles escaped the ultimate penalty while his partner in crime, who took no part in the actual killing - and was indeed in custody at the time - should suffer this penalty. The contemporary thinking behind the penalty, in my opinion, hinged on two points:
1. The judge pointed out that if the two had set out on that evening armed and prepared to use violence if it was deemed necessary, then both were equally guilty before the law in that the events were seen as a joint commission planned by both. They did not go out with the intention of murdering a police office but, as both were armed - Craig with a gun and Bentley with a knuckle duster - they were equally guilty in the planning of a joint commission which they knew could end in violence.
2. There was great public and press concern at the time with both the gang culture and the level of gun crime. (Echoes of today!) Craig and his cronies were obsessed with American gangster movies and dressed and acted in emulation of them. The levels of gun ownership were vastly higher than today. This was just 8 years after the end of World War II and many servicemen had either retained their service firearms or had unofficially acquired guns as "souvenirs."
The Bentley case was, in my opinion, seen as an example of trying to curb these trends which were of such concern.
Hope these comments help
Chris

[Limehouse]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that input. It is a very good summary of the situation prevailing at the time.

There are some important factors I feel need to be added. Although the period of the 1950s is seen as a 'golden age' when crime was low and people could leave their doors open without fear of being robbed there was in fact a great deal of teenage crime involving firearms, knives and other weapons. It seems that the war and its disruptions had a profound impact on a great many young people. Bentley and his family were bombed out of their home on no less than three occasions and duirng one raid Bentleys' grandmother, aunt and a sister were killed. There was also a great deal of gangster controlled crime that included armed robberies and the virtual enslavement and control of postitutes (many of whom were young girls of 14 or 15, arriving pregnant and homeless on the streets).

Bentley had the mental age of a toddler. He was trusting and easily lead. Craig captivated him with stories of heroic shoot-outs with 'coppers' inspired mainly by cinema and by his own brother's criminality. Only weeks before the events on that Croydon roof top, Craigs brother had been sentences to 12 years imprisonment. Despite this behaviour, Craig came from a relatively affluent, middle-class home.

Bentley's intillectual shortcomings and his poor physical health were not disclosed to the jury. However, due to his poor performance in the witness box and the fact that he was under arrest and effectively in the custody of a police officer at the time of the fatal shooting, the jury recommended mercy in Bentley's case.

It was strongly felt that the Home Secretary would over-turn the death penalty but in the event, as we know, he did not. There was uproar over the verdict and the subsequent hanging. However, as you say Chris, it was strongly felt that someone had to atone for PC Mile's murder and as Craig could not do so, it was Bentley who had to act as a deterrent for those that might come after him.

The film "Let Him Have It' was indeed a brilliant portrayal of those events. The end scene is truly shocking. I showed the film to a group of students but I did not tell them what the outcome was so all the way through they were expecting him to 'get off'. The combination of Bentley being marched to his death, the family hugging and sobbing and the clock striking 9am was a powerful scene. There was a stunned silence at the end of the film and several students had tears pouring down their faces.

[sdreid]

I think Hanratty would make up the set along with Bentley, Ellis and Tim Evans when it comes to the sentiment for ending the death penalty. Ellis' and Hanratty's ends don't bother me any. Evans was probably totally innocent so that one definitely does of course. He was a bit simple minded also.

[sdreid]

The only really comparable case we had in America was Chessman but he was executed for a crime that wasn't murder.

[Graham]

The only really comparable case we had in America was Chessman but he was executed for a crime that wasn't murder.

So were a great many poor black men in the southern states of the USA, and none of them received anything like the publicity of Chessman's case. Probably the reason for this was that Chessman was intelligent and articulate, and obviously a good self-publicist who managed to get his book published while he was still alive.

Best regards,

Graham

[Graham]

I think Hanratty would make up the set along with Bentley, Ellis and Tim Evans when it comes to the sentiment for ending the death penalty. Ellis' and Hanratty's ends don't bother me any. Evans was probably totally innocent so that one definitely does of course. He was a bit simple minded also.

Hi Stan,

Hanratty almost certainly should not have been found guilty on the evidence presented at his trial. However, we all know now that DNA has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it.

Evans I'm not so sure about. There was a huge outcry at the time, and over the years, but I believe that these days it's considered that he did kill his daughter.

Ellis never even put up a defence - she meant to kill her lover, was caught red-handed, and took what was coming with a stoic acceptance.

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

Hi Graham,

That's true about the blacks but I mentioned Chessman because his case is the one like the British examples that had some influence on some changes in the law regarding the death penalty. My eighth grade teacher was a big advocate for Chessman and was crushed when the execution was carried out.

[Graham]

Hi Graham,

That's true about the blacks but I mentioned Chessman because his case is the one like the British examples that had some influence on some changes in the law regarding the death penalty. My eighth grade teacher was a big advocate for Chessman and was crushed when the execution was carried out.

Hi Stan.

Chesssman's case was also studied by the British authorities with respect to the 'correctness' of capital punishment and the appeal process. If I remember correctly, Chessman was convicted on identity evidence and because he had a long record of petty crime (cf: James Hanratty). The fact that he never committed murder but yet could be sentenced to death was, I guess, a 'quirk' of American law at the time. I sometimes wonder if he'd have been spared the ultimate punishment had he not been so keen on self-preservation. The other aspect of his case that outraged many people both sides of the Atlantic was the time he spent on Death Row before sentence was carried out. In the UK, the old rule was that 'three clear Sundays' should pass between sentence and execution, which in effect meant that a condemned man's legal advisers would only proceed with an appeal if they genuinely thought there was a very, very good chance of it being granted.

Does rape still carry the death-penalty in any US state, Stan?

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

Hi Graham,

We have people here now that have been on death row for more than 30 years, I believe. If they don't like it, they can always drop their appeals.

All the death sentence laws were rescinded for non-murder crimes, including rape, with the possible exception of treason. I do know that treason now carries a possible death sentence. There was also one southern state that recently passed a law granting the option of a death penalty for child molestation/rape but I don't know of anyone who's received that condemnation yet.

[Graham]

Hi Stan.

The son of a friend of mine is a criminal lawyer here in England, and he told me that he would just LOVE to see the death-penalty reinstated here, as it would mean untold ££££££'s for any lawyer involved in lengthy appeals, a la the American way of doing things.

Cheers,

Graham

[Mayerling]

The Anti - Death Penalty Trial list

Hi all,

There are other cases that led to the abolition movement - some going back to the earlier part of the 20th Century. Some actually did get the defendant off the hook.

1) Dickman (1910) - reaction to the death sentence and the questionable proof of guilt. Hanged.
2) Crippen (1910) - reaction to the death sentence due to sympathy with the defendant. Hanged.
3) Steinie Morrison (1911) - sentenced to death, but the feeling that the trial was hopelessly mangled by both sides. Sentenced reduced to life imprisonment (Steinie eventually starved himself to death in 1921).
4) Seddon (1912) - sentenced to death, but same evidence against him was insufficient against co-defendant Mrs. Seddon. Hanged.
5) Roger Casement (1917) - Massive support for treason defendant because of previous activities as a humanitarian and reformer shattered by police-inspired (and politically supported) use of Casement's diaries to show he was a pederast. Hanged (body later given to Republic of Ireland - treated there as a hero).
6) Holt (1919) - sentenced to death, but attempt to show the defendant was suffering from shell shock from World War I experiences. Hanged.
7 & 8) True - Jacoby Affair (1922) - two contemporary killings. True (middle class) kills prostitute for gain. His insanity is brought into issue at trial. He is sent to Broadmore. Jacoby, a poor servant at a hotel, kills widow of former President of London County Council in robbery. He's convicted (no
question about insanity at trial). He is hanged. Massive anger at "one law for rich (True) and one for poor (Jacoby).
9) Edith Thompson (1923) - massive controversy over the trial (was she tried fo complicity in husband's murder by lover, or adultery), and shabby actions of the prosecution. Dreadful details of the hanging led to certain reforms but no abolition.
10) Thorne (1925) - again controvery over what convinced jury at trial - actual evidence or the appearance of prominent witness against defendant
(Sir Bernard Spilsbury). Hanged.
11) Wallace (1931) - Convicted at trial but decision overturned by Court of Appeal due to actual lack of sufficient legal degree beyond a shadow of a doubt.
12) Bryant (1936) - Forgotten case due to personality failures of defendant (she was sluttish). Evidence against her is so feeble as to make the case against Wallace seem strong. Hanged.
13) Rowlands (1946) - Defendant had committed homicide years earlier and was given prison sentence. Tried and convicted in second case, and hanged.
Subsequently another man claimed he did it...some surface evidence that the second man might have done it.
14) Cristie - Evans mess (1951 - 1953)
15) Bentley - Craig Case (1953)
16) Ruth Ellis (1955)
17) Gunther Podola (1959) - Blackmailer killed bobbie who confronted him.
Beaten by other police officers when seized. Defense at trial was total amnesia of events, and claims that senior police official offered him lenient treatment if he confessed. Podola probably was lying, but the issues were never totally and sarisfactorily settled. Hanged.
18) Jimmy Hanratty (1960).

I'm sure there are other cases besides these. I may add that in the U.S. the trial of Barbara Graham in California (1956) was as controvertial as that of Chessman in leading to the American campaign to end capital punishment.
The number of films based on these cases is extensive. Besides LET HIM HAVE IT, there is Miranda Richardson's DANCE WITH A STRANGER (Ellis); I WANT TO LIVE with Susan Hayward as Graham; TEN RILLINGTON PLACE with Richard Attenborough and John Hurt as Reginald Christie and Timothy Evans;
THE MAN FROM THE 'PRU with Jonathan Pryce as Wallace; and A PIN TO SEE A PEEP SHOW (television version of a Tennyson Jesse novel) based on Mrs. Thompson.

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Graham]

Hi Jeff.

As per Derek Bentley, I don't think it was ever proven that Edith Thompson actually took part in the killing of her husband, but she was convicted courtesy of the mores of the time. If I recall, the same applies to Barbara Graham, whose case was helped by having photos published of her and her son while she was on death row.

Of the films you mention, 10 Rillington Place was so absorbingly atmospheric that watching it actually makes me feel somehow dirty.... Dance With A Stranger was also very good at capturing the atmosphere of the time.

Re: the Hanratty Case (which I remember well), there was very little in the way of any public outcry over the verdict at the time. It was such a god-awful crime that it really did outrage public sensitivities. Odd that a full-length feature film about Hanratty has never been made (as far as I'm aware)

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

Hi Graham and Jeff,

I haven't seen the Thompson movie but all the others are great.

When I was thinking over this topic, I did consider B. Graham. There was a great deal of sympathy for her but I haven't really heard that the case led to any law changes. I think the outcry was a little like with Ellis, in that, if she'd been an ugly old hag, no one would have been all that upset about the execution. (my view)