Post by sclcookie on May 30, 2006 0:21:39 GMT -5
The Suffolk farmer who sells gallows to Africa
Children visit the big barn in Suffolk to buy beautifully crafted rabbit
hutches and bird tables. Their parents pick up pet food or bales of hay.
But in a dark warehouse behind the farm shop more deadly equipment is
being built: David Lucas, on the surface an ordinary farmer, makes and
exports gallows to countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The trade in execution equipment is legal. While Amnesty International and
other human rights groups have condemned this "appalling" export business,
the farmer says he has been inundated with messages of support from around
the world since his extraordinary example of farm diversification was
revealed 2 weeks ago.
New European Union regulations may ban his business in July, but in the
meantime Britain's only gallows-maker has become a reluctant spokesperson
for those who want the return of the death penalty. "The government has
condemned me, but people are saying they need execution and capital
punishment. I'm speaking for the people," he said in his first interview
with a national newspaper.
A noose hangs from a gallows outside the modern buildings at Eldon farm,
near Mildenhall. A set of solid oak stocks stands nearby. A family man and
former safety inspector who has worked on Suffolk farms all his life,
Lucas began building gallows when asked by a foreign businessman.
He works alone, taking a week to construct a traditional gallows. Lucas
will not reveal how many he has supplied, but he says he only sold them to
"law-abiding citizens" in foreign countries -- reported to include
Zimbabwe -- for some years. A traditional platform gallows he is currently
making alongside the garden benches in his warehouse retails for 12 000
($22 000, R145 000).
He also offered undercover reporters his custom-made "multi-hanging
system", a mobile unit of 5 or 6 gallows constructed from an articulated
lorry trailer.
The farmer denies his business is inhumane and argues that when one person
destroys another's life they forfeit their human rights. "I'm not a
horrible person. I believe in law and order. The production of gallows is
for law and order, not for bad people to get hold of it. You can't pick up
a set of gallows and go and shoot someone with it. Gallows can't fall into
the wrong hands like knives or guns."
Lucas says he is standing up for the pro-capital punishment majority. He
is convinced a popular vote or referendum should be used to bring back the
death sentence for murder.
"It is strange to come from the job I was doing and win the hearts of so
many people," he says. Recent visitors, he claims, include a senior
British police officer and army servicemen, as well as people from
America, Africa, Canada, Denmark and Germany.
All of them, he says, support his stance. "I've got Americans coming off
the [Mildenhall] airbase shaking my hand, telling me they totally believe
in what I'm doing and we need to get law and order under control."
His work has given him experience of law and order in other regimes. "You
are safer walking down the street in Libya and African countries than you
are here and that's because of capital punishment," he says. "They are
laughing at us in 3rd world countries because we've got no deterrent
against crime. They are the only ones who have got law and order under
control."
A gallows in every market place in Britain could be a powerful deterrent,
he claims. "That isn't to say they are going to use hanging in the modern
world. They may want to use lethal injection. But there is more deterrent
when a person is hanging there and they see that door open and they drop,"
he says.
The recent case of Anthony Rice, who served 16 years in prison for rape
but stabbed and strangled Naomi Bryant in Winchester when he was released,
is cited by Lucas. "If that man had been used with my gallows he would
never have killed again," he said. "How many lives have been saved because
of people like me with the gallows?"
Lucas argues that the death penalty should also be brought back because
advances in forensic science have made wrongful convictions far less
likely.
"With modern science and the ability to trace DNA, the chance of having
someone wrongfully arrested is zero," he says.
According to Amnesty International, 2,148 people were executed last year,
most of them in China (1 770) and a significant number in Iran (94), Saudi
Arabia (86) and the United States (60). "We were appalled when it came to
light that a British man has apparently been attempting to sell gallows to
President Mugabe's government," said Kate Allen, the United Kingdom
director of Amnesty. "There have been gaping loopholes in the regulations
concerning execution equipment for years and it has made a mockery of the
UK's efforts to oppose the death penalty around the world if right under
its nose a British citizen has been sending hanging equipment abroad."
Lucas's sideline, however, is about to come to an end. A trade regulation
coming into force on July 31 bans export of any form of torture equipment
from any EU country. Amnesty International believes it will stop the
gallows-maker, although a small loophole could still allow the export of
executioners' ropes.
Lucas does not want to associate himself with any political party or
religion, but he feels he has been handed a mission. "African people
wanted some gallows and when the news got out, instead of being condemned,
people believed in me. The people are coming to me because all we've got
in government are a load of fools who won't listen to anybody," he said.
"There are so many people in the world who believe I am right that you
cannot condemn it."
(source: Mail & Guardian)
Children visit the big barn in Suffolk to buy beautifully crafted rabbit
hutches and bird tables. Their parents pick up pet food or bales of hay.
But in a dark warehouse behind the farm shop more deadly equipment is
being built: David Lucas, on the surface an ordinary farmer, makes and
exports gallows to countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The trade in execution equipment is legal. While Amnesty International and
other human rights groups have condemned this "appalling" export business,
the farmer says he has been inundated with messages of support from around
the world since his extraordinary example of farm diversification was
revealed 2 weeks ago.
New European Union regulations may ban his business in July, but in the
meantime Britain's only gallows-maker has become a reluctant spokesperson
for those who want the return of the death penalty. "The government has
condemned me, but people are saying they need execution and capital
punishment. I'm speaking for the people," he said in his first interview
with a national newspaper.
A noose hangs from a gallows outside the modern buildings at Eldon farm,
near Mildenhall. A set of solid oak stocks stands nearby. A family man and
former safety inspector who has worked on Suffolk farms all his life,
Lucas began building gallows when asked by a foreign businessman.
He works alone, taking a week to construct a traditional gallows. Lucas
will not reveal how many he has supplied, but he says he only sold them to
"law-abiding citizens" in foreign countries -- reported to include
Zimbabwe -- for some years. A traditional platform gallows he is currently
making alongside the garden benches in his warehouse retails for 12 000
($22 000, R145 000).
He also offered undercover reporters his custom-made "multi-hanging
system", a mobile unit of 5 or 6 gallows constructed from an articulated
lorry trailer.
The farmer denies his business is inhumane and argues that when one person
destroys another's life they forfeit their human rights. "I'm not a
horrible person. I believe in law and order. The production of gallows is
for law and order, not for bad people to get hold of it. You can't pick up
a set of gallows and go and shoot someone with it. Gallows can't fall into
the wrong hands like knives or guns."
Lucas says he is standing up for the pro-capital punishment majority. He
is convinced a popular vote or referendum should be used to bring back the
death sentence for murder.
"It is strange to come from the job I was doing and win the hearts of so
many people," he says. Recent visitors, he claims, include a senior
British police officer and army servicemen, as well as people from
America, Africa, Canada, Denmark and Germany.
All of them, he says, support his stance. "I've got Americans coming off
the [Mildenhall] airbase shaking my hand, telling me they totally believe
in what I'm doing and we need to get law and order under control."
His work has given him experience of law and order in other regimes. "You
are safer walking down the street in Libya and African countries than you
are here and that's because of capital punishment," he says. "They are
laughing at us in 3rd world countries because we've got no deterrent
against crime. They are the only ones who have got law and order under
control."
A gallows in every market place in Britain could be a powerful deterrent,
he claims. "That isn't to say they are going to use hanging in the modern
world. They may want to use lethal injection. But there is more deterrent
when a person is hanging there and they see that door open and they drop,"
he says.
The recent case of Anthony Rice, who served 16 years in prison for rape
but stabbed and strangled Naomi Bryant in Winchester when he was released,
is cited by Lucas. "If that man had been used with my gallows he would
never have killed again," he said. "How many lives have been saved because
of people like me with the gallows?"
Lucas argues that the death penalty should also be brought back because
advances in forensic science have made wrongful convictions far less
likely.
"With modern science and the ability to trace DNA, the chance of having
someone wrongfully arrested is zero," he says.
According to Amnesty International, 2,148 people were executed last year,
most of them in China (1 770) and a significant number in Iran (94), Saudi
Arabia (86) and the United States (60). "We were appalled when it came to
light that a British man has apparently been attempting to sell gallows to
President Mugabe's government," said Kate Allen, the United Kingdom
director of Amnesty. "There have been gaping loopholes in the regulations
concerning execution equipment for years and it has made a mockery of the
UK's efforts to oppose the death penalty around the world if right under
its nose a British citizen has been sending hanging equipment abroad."
Lucas's sideline, however, is about to come to an end. A trade regulation
coming into force on July 31 bans export of any form of torture equipment
from any EU country. Amnesty International believes it will stop the
gallows-maker, although a small loophole could still allow the export of
executioners' ropes.
Lucas does not want to associate himself with any political party or
religion, but he feels he has been handed a mission. "African people
wanted some gallows and when the news got out, instead of being condemned,
people believed in me. The people are coming to me because all we've got
in government are a load of fools who won't listen to anybody," he said.
"There are so many people in the world who believe I am right that you
cannot condemn it."
(source: Mail & Guardian)