jan 28, 1953 - Derek Bentley executed

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Derek Bentley, aged 19, was involved in a burglary with his 16-year-old accomplice, Cristopher Craig. Craig had a gun, and when the police officer asked him to hand it over, Bentley allegedly said "Let him have it." The ambiguous meaning was one of the major factors in Bentley's sentence for murder due to joint enterprise. Bentley made an appeal against his death sentence, which was turned down. It went to the Home Secretary, Fyfe, to decide whether to put it forward to the Queen for mercy, but he did not, and Bentley was executed.

However, Bentley had a low mental age and his family fought for a posthumous pardon. This was granted in 1993. His murder conviction was completely quashed in 1998.

The case was controversial. It was one of the high-profile cases which made the public question the death penalty, and led to its abolition in 1965.

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