DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27896, 18 February 1956, Page 9

DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER

Commons Approves Abolition

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 11 p.m.)

LONDON, February 17.

Three men in condemned cells in Britain woke today with . new hope after last night’s House of Commons decision favouring the abolition of the death sentence for murder.

The verdict, given in a free vote by 293 votes to 262. ended one of the most controversial issues Parliament has faced since the war. For years the press and people have debated whether the possible deterrent effect of hanging was sufficient justification for its continuance.

The result, announced to a packed house, brought shouts of joy to politicians who for years have campaigned to wipe the shadow of the gallows from Britain's penal code. Outside Parliament, crowds who waited for hours in the cold quickly learned the news.

“A triumph for reason,” said the “Daily Herald,” a Labour newspaper, on its front page today. “The vole to end hanging is a victory for civilisation that can rank beside the vote to abolish slavery.” The “Daily Herald" added: “Britain is a sweeter place this morning.” Last night’s, majority of 31—later further affirmed by a majority of 46 —was reached after six and a hall hours of dramatic debate. It surprised many supporters of abolition, who thought voting would be closer. As the cheers subsided, the Prime Minister (Sir Anthony Eden) promised that the Government would give full weight at once to the decision. The “Daily Express” opposed the decision and said it was “a triumph for emotionalism.” The “Daily Sketch” had a picture of a policeman with a pistol holster strapped round his waist. “Will it come to this?” the newspaper asked, echoing the thoughts of many who have said the police would have to be armed if capital punishment was abolished. The House of Commons decision will have to pass the Upper House. The death penalty at present applies to four crimes—murder, treason.

piracy with violence, and fire-raising in Royal dockyards and arsenals. The debate, the third on capital punishment in Britain since the war, was the climax to almost a century of agitation for abolition of the supreme penalty. The Commons voted to abolish it in 1948. but after a 55-day period, when murderers were automatically reprieved, the decision was rejected in the Upper House. Only last year. Mr Sidney Silverman's (Labour) private bill calling for suspension for five years was rejected by 245 to 214 votes. The former Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, sat through last night’s debate. An almost certain result of the decision will be that the men under sentence will be reprieved. They have been convicted of murdering a nine-days-old baby, an Indian student and a 70-year-old woman. The last woman hanged in England was a 28-year-old night club hostess. Ruth Ellis. She was executed last July for the murder of her lover, David Blakely. The last man to go to the gallows was Alec Wilkinson, a 22-year-old miner, hanged last August for the murder of his wife. No woman has been hanged in Scotland since 1923.