crime & punishment – Page 4

On this day in history….18th December 1985

On this day in history : 18th December 1985 – British born Kevin Barlow and Australian Brian Chambers face the death penalty in Malaysia after their appeal against conviction for drug smuggling is rejected….

Kevin Barlow - Fair use — Kevin Barlow – Fair use

Brian Chambers - Fair use — Kevin Barlow – Fair use

The pair, who were both 28 years old and residents of Australia, were arrested in the November of 1983 at Penang International Airport with 180 grams of heroin in their possession…. Each blamed the other and pleaded innocence – however, at their trial in the following July both were found guilty….

The two men appealed the decision…. Barlow’s aunt, back in Britain, appealed directly to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and to the Foreign Office to intervene and seek clemency on their behalf…. But it was the Australian authorities who took the lead – headed by Bill Hayden, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and who was firmly against the death penalty…. However, the Supreme Court of Malaysia refused any leniency and upheld the ruling that they should be executed….

The Honourable Bill Hayden – Image credit : Ali Kazak 9 – CC BY-SA 3.0

Despite a last minute plea for a stay of execution from Australian Prime Minster Robert Hawke both men were hanged in Pudu Prison on the 7th of July 1986…. A law had been introduced in Malaysia in 1983 that if anyone was caught with more than 15g of heroin it carried a mandatory death penalty…. Barlow, a welder from Perth and Chambers, a building contractor from Sydney, were the first non-Malaysians to be hanged under the country’s strict drug laws…. In Australia a similar offence would have received a sentence of three years imprisonment…. After the executions relations between Australia and Malaysia soured….

On this day in history….14th November 1864

On this day in history : 14th November 1864 – German tailor Franz Muller is publicly hanged at Newgate Prison, for the murder of Thomas Briggs – the first killing on a British train….

On the 9th of July 1864 city banker Thomas Briggs had been travelling on the 9.50pm London Railway train between Fenchurch Street and Hackney Wick…. Train travel at the time was not without its risks – robberies were commonplace but as of yet nobody had been killed…. However, this was about to change…. Briggs was beaten, robbed of his gold spectacles, watch and chain…. He was then thrown from the train, to be later found by the driver of another train travelling in the opposite direction…. He was taken to a nearby public house but died of his injuries….

A pool of blood was found in the compartment of the train where Briggs had been sitting – along with a black beaver hat assumed belonging to the murderer…. Then John Death, a jeweller from Cheapside, gave a description of a German man who had exchanged a gold chain two days after the attack – this chain was identified as having belonged to Briggs….

Nine days after, by which time a substantial £300 reward had been offered, a cab driver by the name of Matthews came forward with information…. He claimed he had not heard about the murder (even though it had been widely publicised) – but said he had become suspicious about a jeweller’s box with Death’s name on it, in the possession of his future son-in-law…. The cab driver’s daughter was engaged to 24-year-old Franz Muller – and Matthews was able to provide a photograph of the German…. This was then identified by the jeweller as being the man who had exchanged the chain; a warrant was issued for Muller’s arrest….

However, Muller was now onboard a passenger liner heading for New York…. Fortunately two detectives from Scotland Yard managed to get passage on a much faster ship and were in New York three weeks before Muller – who was arrested upon his arrival….

Extradition was to prove a little tricky as diplomatic relations were not good between America and Britain at the time, due to the American Civil War…. But eventually Muller was brought back to face trial….

The trial caught the attention of the British public, who were becoming increasingly wary about the safety of travelling by train…. Many believed Matthews had only shopped his future son-in-law to get the reward money and speculated that he might even have been involved in the crime himself…. Much of the evidence against Muller was circumstantial and he pleaded not guilty, protesting his innocence throughout…. Nevertheless he was found guilty and sentenced to hang…. His was one of the last public executions and a large, unruly, drunken crowd of some 50,000 gathered to watch…. Muller’s last words were “Ich habe es getan” ~ “I did it”….

Engraving of Newgate Prison, early 1800s – Public domain

The case was to lead to the establishment of the communication cord onboard trains, giving passengers a way of contacting train staff…. Briggs had been murdered in a closed compartment with no way of exiting between stops…. As a result railway carriages were created with corridors….

British History

On this day in history….24th October 1983

On this day in history : 24th October 1983 – Dennis Nilsen, a civil servant from North London, goes on trial at the Old Bailey – accused of six murders and two attempted murders….

Mug shot of Nilsen – Full Sutton Prison – Fair use

37-year-old Nilsen had been arrested after human remains were found in a blocked drain at his home in Muswell Hill…. The tenants at the flats had complained to the landlord about the drains smelling – it was a plumber who made the grisly discovery….

Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill – where Nilsen occupied an attic flat – Image credit : Chris Whippet CC BY-SA 2.0

After a search of Nilsen’s flat the remains of three bodies were found; the bones from at least eight others were discovered at his former home in Cricklewood, Northwest London…. Nilsen admitted to further murders, telling police he had killed fifteen or sixteen….

Nilsen would meet his victims in pubs; they were always male – some were homeless, some were homosexual and some were prostitutes…. He would invite them back to his flat for a drink – and would then strangle them using a tie or electrical cable…. He would usually spend the night lying in bed beside the corpse and would invariably have, or attempt to have, sex with it….

He disposed of the bodies in a variety of ways…. He hid them under floorboards, in a wardrobe, in suitcases and even under the sink…. Having spent eleven years in the Army he had learned butchery skills in the Catering Corps…. He cut up many of his victims, burying limbs in the garden – or burning body parts on a bonfire…. He even flushed remains down the toilet….

When Nilsen came to trial he pleaded not guilty to all charges, citing diminished responsibility due to a mental defect…. The jury retired on the 3rd of November to deliberate but were unable to reach a unanimous verdict…. The next day the judge agreed to accept a majority verdict and at 4.25pm on the 4th of November a guilty verdict was delivered an all six counts of murder…. Nielsen was sentenced to life in prison and it was ordered that he should not be eligible for parole for 25 years….

During his time in prison Nilsen wrote his autobiography History of the Drowning Man – but this was denied publication…. On the 12th of May 2018 he died of a pulmonary embolism (a blockage in an artery of the lungs)….

British History

On this day in history….16th October 1902

On this day in history : 16th October 1902 – In the village of Borstal, in Kent, a detention centre for young offenders is opened…. It is the first of several such custodial institutions, which become known as borstals….

Young offenders in the schoolroom at Borstal (now known as Rochester Prison), circa 1906 – Public domain

It was in 1895 that the Gladstone Committee first proposed the concept of the ‘borstal’ – seeing a need to separate young people from the influence of older convicts in adult prisons…. Those under the age of 16 were already segregated after the introduction of Industrial Schools, a new reformatory system to correct wayward behaviour as an alternative to prison…. The Gladstone Committee sought to find a solution for those in the 16-21 age group….

An experimental scheme was conducted at Bedford Prison commencing in 1899…. This was then extended to a part of the existing prison in Borstal; the new institution being kept entirely separated from the main adult prison…. The young inmates were given physical exercise, schooling and training for future work…. The skills taught included trades such as brick-laying, carpentry, farming, agriculture, metalwork and cookery…. Sentences were generally between two and three years, with supervision after discharge….

The Prevention of Crime Act 1908 saw the scheme come officially into force; in 1910 a second institution was established at Feltham and was then followed by others, including Portland…. The first for girls was opened in Aylesbury in 1909 and offered training in skills such as housework, cookery, laundry, sewing, gardening and farming….

Aylesbury Prison, where the first Borstal for girls was established – Public domain

Discipline was strict but with corporal punishment used only as a last resort…. Other punishments such as withdrawal of privileges, docked wages, reduction of food rations and confinement were implemented instead…. The birch could only be imposed by a visiting magistrate and was only ever administered to males over the age of 18…. In the ten year period between 1926-36 it was only used on 7 occasions…. Caning was used in Northern Ireland but was not authorised in England, Scotland and Wales…. Borstals should not be confused with approved schools, which were a different type of youth correction institution, based more on boarding schools – the cane was used in approved schools….

The Criminal Justice Act 1982, officially abolished the borstal system in the UK, being replaced by youth custody centres, or detention centres…. Since the 1960s and 1970s the old borstal system had been viewed as out dated…. In 1972 Community Order sentences began to appear – with offenders undertaking unpaid work to provide services for the benefit of the community….

British History

On this day in history….4th September 1739

On this day in history : 4th September 1739 – The execution of Michael Curry for the murder of the landlord of the Three Horseshoes Inn at Hartley, near to Whitley Bay…. Curry was then gibbeted overlooking the scene of his crime….

On the headland, overlooking the causeway towards St. Mary’s Bay, Whitley, North Tyneside a blue plaque can be found…. It reads:

‘On 4th September 1739 Michael Curry was executed for the murder of the landlord of the Three Horseshoes Inn, Hartley. His body was afterwards hung in chains from a gibbet at this spot within sight of the scene of his crime. Ever since that gruesome event this headland has been known as Curry’s Point’….

The plaque was erected on the 4th of September 1989, to mark the 250th anniversary of the macabre happening…. Michael Curry was a glass worker at the local glassworks in Seaton Sluice…. Following his conviction for the murder of landlord Robert Shevill he was hanged in Newcastle….and then, as was common practice of the times, his tarred body was left in sight of the crime scene…. It was a practice known as ‘gibbeting’ – or ‘hanging in chains’….and was intended to discourage others from committing similar offences…. Gibbets were usually placed where they would be highly visible, frequently at crossroads or by busy waterways….

Captain Kidd hanging in chains – Public domain

The Murder Act 1751 made this practice into a regulated procedure…. ‘In no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried’….meaning the corpse of the executed murderer had to be either publicly dissected or left to rot hanging in chains…. The practice was finally formally repealed by statute in 1834…. The last two men to be gibbeted in England were William Jobbing and James Cook – both in the same year of 1832….