U.K. Abolishes Hanging

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30895, 30 October 1965, Page 15

U.K. Abolishes Hanging

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 29. Britain abolished capital punishment today. The House of Commons approved without vote the antihanging bill first introduced by abolitionists almost 20 years ago.

Murderers presently under sentence of death, including a 19-year-old boy condemned this week for killing a detective, will instead serve long terms of imprisonment. There has been an unofficial moratorium on hanging in Britain for about 14 months, since th? abolitionists forced Parliament to seri-

ously consider the subject. The last criminals executed in Britain were Peter Allen, aged 21. and Gwynne Owen Evans, aged 24, who were hanged t i August 13. 1964, for the murder of a Welsh farmer.

Under the new law, which will be reviewed after five years, a convicted killer will serve a long term, probably a minimum of 15 years. Until now a murderer who escaped the gallows or received a life sentence served an average of eight to 10 years. The law provides that the judge sentencing a killer to life imprisonment may stipulate the minimum period he is to spend behind bars before being considered for parole. Previously this was at the dis-

cretion of the Home Secretary. It also requires the Home Secretary to consult with the Lord Chief Justice and the trial judge, if he is available, before releasing a killer on licence. Passage of the Anti-Capital Punishment Bill ended years of grim tradition. It brought Britain into line with all other Western European nations except France, which still guillotines some killers, and Spain, which uses the garrotte to strangle the condemned. It was a personal victory for a 69-year-old Left-wing Labour Member of Parliament, Mr Sydney Silverman, who first sought to end hanging in 1948.