Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was hanged at the age of 19 for a murder committed by a friend, creating a cause célèbre and leading to a 45-year-long successful campaign to win him a posthumous pardon. is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. ... HM Prison Wandsworth is a prison in Wandsworth in south London, England. ... is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. ... Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ... Look up cause célèbre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Breton religious festivals, see Pardon (ceremony). ...

The incident that led to the death sentence

Bentley had a difficult upbringing during which he suffered serious injury from a V1 flying bomb and developed epilepsy. He was of limited intelligence (mental age of 11), easily influenced and unable to read or write. On 2 November 1952, and together with Christopher Craig, aged 16, he tried to break into a warehouse called Parker & Barlow in Croydon, Surrey,England. Craig was armed with a revolver. The two youths were spotted climbing over the gate and up a drain pipe to the roof of the warehouse by a little girl in a house across the road from the building. She alerted her parents and her father walked to the nearest telephone box and called the police. The Vergeltungswaffe 1 Fi 103 / FZG-76 (V-1), known as the Flying bomb, Buzz bomb or Doodlebug, was the first modern guided missile used in wartime and the first cruise missile. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Croydon (disambiguation). ... This article is about the English county. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... K2 red telephone boxes behind Enzo Plazzottas bronze, Young Dancer, on Broad Street, Covent Garden, London A K6 red telephone box in Oxford The red telephone box, a public telephone kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was a once familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom. ...

When the police arrived, the two boys hid behind a lift-housing. One of the policemen, Detective Constable Frederick Fairfax, climbed the drain pipe onto the roof and grabbed hold of Bentley. Bentley broke free and was said by a number of police witnesses to have shouted the words "Let him have it, Chris". Craig opened fire with his revolver, grazing Fairfax's shoulder. Nevertheless, Fairfax arrested Bentley, who is said to have told him that Craig had a Colt .45 and plenty of ammunition. The weapon was in fact a Colt .455 Eley calibre, for which Craig had a variety of undersized rounds, some of which he had had to modify to fit the gun. Craig had also sawn off half of the weapon's barrel, so that it would fit in his pocket. Detective Sergeant Frederick William Fairfax won the George Cross [1] for his heroism in chasing the armed robbers Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig. ... For other uses, see CMC. Colts Manufacturing Company (CMC--formerly Colts Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. ... . ...

Following the arrival of more policemen, a group was sent onto the roof. The first to reach the roof was Police Constable Sidney Miles, who was immediately killed by a shot to the head. After exhausting his ammunition, Craig jumped some ten metres from the roof, fracturing his spine and left wrist when he landed on a greenhouse, at which point he was arrested. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Derek Bentley. ...

Various medals were awarded to the several participating police officers, including one – posthumously – to Miles, and the George Cross to Fairfax. The George Cross (GC) is the highest civil decoration of the Commonwealth of Nations. ...

Legal proceedings

Even if he was convicted of murder, Craig would not face execution as he was below the age of 18. Bentley on the other hand was over 18, although less mature. The trial took place before the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Goddard, at the Old Bailey in London. The doctrine of 'constructive malice' meant that a charge of manslaughter was not an option, as the "malicious intent" of the armed robbery was transferred to the shooting. Bentley's best defence was that he was effectively under arrest when PC Miles was killed; however, this was only after an attempt to escape, during which a police officer had been wounded. The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales was, historically, the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor. ... Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales 1946-1958 Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard (April 10, 1877–May 29, 1971) was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1946 to 1958 and known for his heavy sentencing and reactionary views. ... The Old Bailey. ...

As the trial progressed the jury had more details to consider. The prosecution was unsure how many shots were fired and by whom, and a ballistics expert cast doubt on whether Craig could have hit Miles if he had shot at him deliberately: the fatal bullet was not found, Craig had used bullets of different under-sized calibres, and the sawn-off barrel made it inaccurate to a degree of six feet at the range from which he fired. There was also the question of what Bentley had meant by "Let him have it", if indeed he had said it. Though in the gangster movies of the time the expression meant "shoot", it could also be construed as signifying that Bentley wanted Craig to surrender the gun. For other uses, see Ballistics (disambiguation). ...

The Principal Medical Officer responsible was Dr Matheson, and he referred Bentley to Dr Hill, a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital. Hill's report stated that Bentley was illiterate and of low intelligence, almost borderline retarded. However, Matheson was of the opinion that Bentley was not suffering from epilepsy at the time of the alleged offence, that he was not a "feeble-minded person" under the Mental Deficiency Acts, and that he was sane and fit to plead and stand trial. English law of the time did not recognise the concept of diminished responsibility due to retarded development, though it existed in Scots law (it was introduced to England by the Homicide Act 1957). Criminal insanity – where the accused is unable to distinguish right from wrong – was then the only medical defence to murder. Bentley, while suffering severe debilitation, was not insane. The Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, Camberwell, South London is unique as a psychiatric hospital in that it was always intended to be a centre of treatment and research rather than confinement and asylum. Now part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) the hospital derives its origins... Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. ... English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... For the law in other criminal jurisdictions, see diminished responsibility. ... Mental retardation (also called mental handicap and, as defined by the UK Mental Health Act (1983), mental impairment and severe mental impairment) is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as... Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1900-1999. ... The term criminally insane is largely the invention of crime and horror authors. ...

The jury took 75 minutes to decide that both Bentley and Craig were guilty of the Miles's murder. Bentley was sentenced to death, while Craig was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure (he was eventually released after serving 10 years' imprisonment). Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ... -1...

Bentley's lawyers filed appeals highlighting the ambiguities of the ballistic evidence, Bentley's mental age and the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot. These efforts failed to reverse his conviction, however, and the death sentence was mandatory. In law, an appeal is a process for making a formal challenge to an official decision. ...

David Maxwell Fyfe, who had helped to draft the European Convention on Human Rights, had become Home Secretary when the Conservatives returned to office in 1951. After reading the Home Office psychiatric reports he refused to request clemency from the young and as yet uncrowned Queen, despite a deputation with a petition signed by over 200 of his fellow MPs. David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir (1900-1967) was an important British politician and jurist. ... “ECHR” redirects here. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ... A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... Elizabeth II in an official portrait as Queen of Canada (on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, wearing the Sovereigns badges of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The...

Parliament was not allowed to debate Bentley's sentence until it had been carried out, i.e. until he had been hanged they could not discuss whether he should be hanged. The Home Office also refused Hill permission to make his report public. On January 28, 1953, Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Albert Pierrepoint. is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. ... HM Prison Wandsworth is a prison in Wandsworth in south London, England. ... Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) is the most famous member of a Yorkshire family who provided three of Britains Chief Executioners in the first half of the 20th century. ...

To Encourage the Others

In his definitive 1971 work on the case, To Encourage the Others, David Yallop rigorously documented Bentley's mental deficiencies, inconsistencies in the police and forensic evidence, and the conduct of the trial, all of which worked against the defendants. More significantly, he proposed the theory that Miles was actually killed by a bullet from a gun other than Craig's sawn-off .455 revolver. Yallop drew this conclusion from an interview with Dr David Haler, the pathologist who carried out the autopsy on Miles, and who estimated the head wound was inflicted by a bullet of between .32 and .38 calibre, the latter being (in Haler's words) "the very ultimate extreme". He estimated that the bullet had been fired from between six to nine feet away. Craig had been firing from a distance of just under 40 feet, and had used a variety of under-sized .41, and .45 calibre rounds in his revolver, but it would have been impossible for him to use one of .38 or smaller calibre. Haler did not offer in his trial evidence any estimate of the size of the bullet that had killed Miles. While Craig accepts that the bullet that killed Miles came from his gun, he maintains that all of his shots were fired over the rear garden of a house adjacent to the warehouse, approximately 20 degrees to the right of Miles's location from where Craig had been firing. David Anthony Yallop (born 1937 London) is a British author who writes chiefly about unsolved crimes. ... This article or section should be merged with Forensic science Forensic evidence consists of anything that can be used in a court of law to convict a person of a crime. ... This article is about the medical procedure. ...

The standard Metropolitan police pistol at the time was the .32 Webley automatic, a number of which were issued on the night, although it was claimed that they arrived on the scene after Miles was killed and that the only ammunition not returned was two rounds fired by Fairfax. At least one witness, however, claims to have seen armed officers on the scene before Miles was shot. In his book The Scientific Investigation of Crime, the prosecution's ballistics expert Lewis Nickolls stated that he recovered four bullets from the roof, two of .45, one of .41 and one of .32 calibre. The latter was not entered as an exhibit in the trial, nor mentioned in Nickoll's evidence to the court.

When Yallop telephoned Haler the day after the initial interview, he confirmed his estimate of the bullet size. Shortly before the publication of Yallop's book (and its serialisation in The Observer), Haler was at the request of the publisher's solicitors provided with a transcript of the interview, which he again confirmed was accurate. It was only after the subsequent broadcast of the BBC Play for Today adaptation of To Encourage the Others (directed by Alan Clarke) that Haler sought to deny that he had given any specific estimate of the size of the bullet that killed Miles beyond being "of large calibre". Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Play for Today logo, seen here in the opening title sequence from 1976. ... Alan Clarke (28 October 1935 - 24 July 1990) was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. ...

Overturning of murder conviction, and pardon for Bentley

Following the execution there was a public sense of unease about the decision, resulting in a long campaign, mostly led by Bentley's sister Iris, to secure a posthumous pardon for him. On 29 July 1993 Bentley was granted a Royal Pardon in respect of the sentence of death passed upon him and carried out. Eventually, on 30 July 1998, the Court of Appeal set aside Bentley's conviction for murder 45 years earlier. is the 210th day of the year (211th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... For the Breton religious festivals, see Pardon (ceremony). ... is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...

Though Bentley was not accused of attacking any of the police officers being shot at by Craig, for him to be convicted of murder as an accessory in a joint enterprise it was necessary for the prosecution to prove that he knew that Craig had a deadly weapon when they began the break-in. Craig was armed with a large knife as well as the gun.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham ruled that Lord Goddard had not made it clear to the jury that the prosecution was required to have proved Bentley had known that Craig was armed. He further ruled that Lord Goddard had failed to raise the question of Bentley's withdrawal from their joint enterprise. This would require the prosecution to prove the absence of any attempt by Bentley to signal to Craig that he wanted Craig to surrender his weapons to the police. Lord Bingham ruled that Bentley's trial had been unfair, in that the judge had misdirected the jury and, in his summing-up, had put unfair pressure on the jury to convict. It is possible that Lord Goddard may have been under pressure while summing up since much of the evidence was not directly relevant to Bentley's defence. It is important to note that Bingham did not rule that Bentley was innocent, merely that there had been defects in the trial process. Had Bentley still been alive, the ordinary course would have been a retrial. The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, and the presiding judge of Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, and of the Queens Bench Division of the High Court. ... Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, PC (born October 13, 1933), is one of the most senior judges in the United Kingdom. ...

Another factor in the posthumous defence was that a "confession" recorded by Bentley, which was claimed by the prosecution to be a "verbatim record of dictated monologue", was shown by forensic linguistics methods to have been largely edited by policemen. Linguist Malcolm Coulthard showed that certain patterns, such as the frequency of the word "then", and the grammatical use of "then" after the grammatical subject ("I then" rather than "then I"), was not consistent with Bentley's use of language (his idiolect), as evidenced in court testimony^[1]. These patterns fitted better the recorded testimony of the policemen involved. This is one of the earliest uses of forensic linguistics on record. Forensic linguistics is the name given to a number of sub-disciplines within applied linguistics, and which relate to the interface between language, the law and crime. ... An idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. ...

In a case with similarities to the Bentley case, a Court of Appeal verdict of 17 July 1997, cleared Philip English of murdering Sergeant Bill Forth in March 1993, the reasons being given by Lord Hutton. English had been handcuffed before his companion Paul Weddle killed Sgt Forth with a concealed knife. The existing joint enterprise law allowed the conviction of English for murder because they had both been attacking Sgt Forth with wooden staves, making English an accessory to any murder committed by Weddle as part of that assault. Lord Hutton made the 'fine distinction' that a concealed knife was a far more deadly weapon than a wooden stave, so that proof of English's knowledge of it was necessary for conviction. The appeal may have influenced the allowing of a posthumous referral of the Bentley case. is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Lord Hutton James Brian Edward Hutton, Baron Hutton, PC (born 29 June 1932), is a former British Law Lord. ... Lord Hutton James Brian Edward Hutton, Baron Hutton, PC (born 29 June 1932), is a former British Law Lord. ...

Lord Mustill had asked for new laws on homicide when setting out his reasons at the time of Lord Hutton's ruling on English's appeal. However, Lord Bingham's ruling blamed Lord Goddard for a miscarriage of justice without making further alteration to the law on joint enterprise. The English judgment, delivered just over two months after the Labour government took office, remained the most recent precedent in joint enterprise law, though the Bentley verdict attracted far more media attention.

In popular culture

The 1991 movie Let Him Have It, starring Christopher Eccleston as Bentley, relates the story, as does the Elvis Costello song "Let Him Dangle". Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film set in 1952 and based on a true story. ... Christopher Eccleston (born 16 February 1964) is an English stage, television and film actor. ... Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick McManus August 25, 1954) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. ... Spike is an album by the British rock and roll singer Elvis Costello, released on February 14, 1989 (see 1989 in music). ...

References

Yallop, David (1991). To Encourage/Others. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 9780552134514. 

External links

• Let Him Have It at the Internet Movie Database
• Judgement of Bingham LCJ in R v Bentley
• Opinions of the Lords of Appeal for Judgment in the Cause R v English
• Derek Bentley's Gravesite