NEW DEATH SENTENCE FORMULA IN BRITAIN
<ll a.m.) LONDON, April 20. “The sentence of the court i 3 the sentence prescribed by law, namely, that you suffer death by hanging,” said a judge at the Old Bailey in sentencing a 22-year-old army deserter, Donald George Thomas, who was found guilty of the murder of Constable Nathaniel Edgar in a north London suburb on February 13. ' The judge unprecedentedly did not wear the black cap. Thomas is the first man to be sentenced for murder since the House of Commons on April 14 amended the Criminal Justice Bill suspending the death sentence for murder for five years. The bill is not law yet, but Thomas’ sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment. The judge’s words in sentencing Thomas replaced the customary lengthy formula of the death sentence. The chaplain, who normally stands behind the judge to utter the word ‘‘amen" after the words "May the Lord have mercy on your soul,” remained sitting behind the barristers. It is understood that this new procedure is to be used for verdicts of murder untli the proposed changes become legally effective*.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22617, 21 April 1948, Page 5
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187NEW DEATH SENTENCE FORMULA IN BRITAIN Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22617, 21 April 1948, Page 5
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