NEITHER LIKELY TO HANG

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30629, 21 December 1964, Page 7

NEITHER LIKELY TO HANG

(N.Z.P.A.- Reuter —Copyright)

LONDON, December 20.

Last week in Britain two men were sentenced to death but neither was likely to hang.

In the death cell on Friday was 18-year-old Peter Anthony Dunford found guilty of murdering a fellow prisoner at Wakefield Prison, Yorkshire.

Mr Justice Howard performed the death sentence ritual at Leeds Assizes—as had Mr Justice Megaw at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London on Monday when sentencing Ronald John Cooper, a croupier who shot a company director. But neither Dunford nor Cooper is likely to hang. Next Monday the House of Commons will be asked to give its second reading to Mr Sydney Silverman’s bill to abolish the death penalty. It has strong support from all parties and is expected to become law as quickly as possible. Dunford, of Crawley New Town, Sussex, was sentenced to death because he had killed before. . The British Police Federation has sent a message to all members of Parliament urging the retention of hanging for the murder of a police officer or people going to his aid. “We are aware of statistics which indicate that the abolition of capital punishment in some other countries did not of itself result in more policemen being murdered than heretofore,” said the message.

“However, this is not a safe comparison. The policeman in Great Britain is unique among most other

overseas forces in carrying out his duties unarmed, and, to a greater extent than abroad, alone. . . .”