Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

When was the death penalty abolished in the UK?

When was the death penalty abolished in the UK?

A NUMBER of countries around the world can still impose the death penalty as a punishment for people found guilty of the most serious crimes.

A total of 53 countries still have the death sentence, employing a variety of methods including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, electrocution and beheading- but when was the death penalty abolished in the UK?

When was the death penalty abolished in the UK?


The death penalty was scrapped by parliament in 1969.

This came after public anger led to the suspensions of executions in 1965.

The UK is one of 141 countries that Human rights group Amnesty International, which has been campaigning on the issue since 1977, says has abolished the death sentence in law or practice.

When was the last execution in the UK?


The last people to be sentenced to death in Britain were Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans – real name John Robson Walby – in 1964.

They had knifed a friend to death for money.

The last woman to be executed was Ruth Ellis, a peroxide-blonde club hostess with film-star looks, who shot dead her posh racing-driver lover David Blakely outside a London pub in 1955.

The last execution in the UK was in 1964


What forms of capital punishment were used in the UK?


The main form of capital punishment in the UK was hanging.

Executions at the gallows were considered a quick and less painful way of death.

Burning at the stake was also another form of capital punishment, mainly used in the 13th century for treason.

Although it was later replaced by hanging, the burning of those suspected of witchcraft was still practised in Scotland until the 18th century.

Another method in the 18th century was beheading which was considered the least brutal way of execution as well as death by firing squad.

Was treason punishable by death?


Technically the death penalty could be handed down in high treason cases until 1998.

But the last person to be executed for treason was 39-year-old William Joyce.

Better known as Lord Haw-Haw, he was a notorious broadcaster of Nazi propaganda to the UK during World War Two.

He was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, London, on January 3, 1946, for betraying Britain.

Which criminals received the death penalty in the UK?


A number of criminals were punished by death for their crimes in the UK.

Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans became the last people to be hanged in Britain in 1964 while Peter Manuel, dubbed " Britain's first serial killer", was the third-to-last criminal to be executed in Scotland.

Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in Britain for the murder of her lover David Blakely.

Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans


The pair were the last people to be hanged in Britain, for the murder of 53-year-old John Alan West.

The two unemployed criminals had gone to rob him at his home in Seaton, Cumberland.

They were arrested and charged two days later.

They were executed on August 13, 1964, in prisons in Manchester and Liverpool.

The last people to be hanged in Britain, Peter Allen, left, and Gwynne Evans
Peter Manuel


The serial killer nicknamed the Beast of Birkenshaw was responsible for at least nine murders in Scotland in the 1950s.

On January 2, 1956, he raped and killed 17-year-old Anne Kneilands after stalking her at an East Kilbride golf course.

In September 1956, he shot dead Marion Watt, 45, her daughter Vivienne, 17, and sister Margaret Brown, 41, at their Glasgow home.

He also shot Sydney Dunn, 36, a taxi driver, while looking for work in Newcastle.

On December 28, 1957, Isabelle Cooke, 17, was raped and strangled before being buried in a nearby field.

On New Year's Day 1958, Peter Smart, 45, wife Doris, 42, and ten-year-old son Michael were all shot in the head as they lay in bed.

Manuel was hanged on the Barlinnie gallows on July 11, 1958.


John Christie


One of Britain's most notorious serial killers, John Christie was hanged on July 15, 1953.

Some of his victims were buried in the garden, while bodies were also hidden inside a gap in the kitchen

His first victim was part-time prostitute Ruth Fuerst, 21, in 1943 followed by 32-year-old Muriel Eady a year later.

In 1948 he murdered mother and daughter Beryl and Geraldine Evans while the brutal killer did not hesitate to murder his wife Ethel in 1952.

In 1953 he murdered Kathleen Maloney, Rita Nelson and Hectorina MacLennan.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×