Derek Bentley

Derek Bentley
Born
Derek William Bentley

(1933-06-30)30 June 1933
Southwark, London, England
Died28 January 1953(1953-01-28) (aged 19)
Wandsworth Prison, London, England
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Resting place
Known forWrongful conviction and execution
Criminal status
Executed (1953)
Conviction(s)Murder (overturned)
Criminal penaltyDeath by hanging
Partner(s)Christopher Craig

Derek William Bentley (30 June 1933 – 28 January 1953) was a British man who was hanged for the murder of a policeman during a burglary. Christopher Craig, then aged 16, a friend and accomplice of Bentley, was accused of the murder. Bentley was convicted as a party to the crime under the English law principle of joint enterprise, as the burglary had been committed in mutual understanding and bringing deadly weapons. The outcome of the trial, and Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe's failure to grant clemency to Bentley, were highly controversial.

The jury at the trial found Bentley guilty based in large part on the prosecution's interpretation of the ambiguous phrase "Let him have it", Bentley's alleged exhortation to Craig, which prosecutors argued was an order to shoot and defence counsel argued was an order to surrender; this after Lord Chief Justice Goddard had described Bentley as "mentally aiding" the murder. Goddard sentenced Bentley to be hanged, despite a recommendation for mercy by the jury.

The Bentley case became a cause célèbre and led to a 40-year-long campaign to win Bentley a posthumous pardon, which was granted in 1993, and then a further campaign for the quashing of his murder conviction, which occurred in 1998.[1] Bentley's case is thus considered a case of miscarriage of justice alongside that of Timothy Evans, and pivotal in the successful campaign to abolish capital punishment in the United Kingdom.

  1. ^ Luu, Chi (6 September 2017). "Sentenced to Death (and Other Tales from the Dark Side of Language)". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 18 April 2024.