Post by sclcookie on Jun 2, 2006 1:09:01 GMT -5
Hangman 'nearly killed assistant by mistake'
As the longest-serving member of the Pierrepoint dynasty of Britain's
chief executioners, Thomas Pierrepoint prided himself on the speed with
which he dispatched his clients. His record from cell to gallows was 60
seconds.
But secret records released today show the Home Office faced an
unprecedented rebellion from prison governors and doctors. They were
concerned that, when Pierrepoint was still working at 72, his eyesight was
fading and he had become so obsessed with carrying out super-efficient
hangings that he nearly sent his assistant through the trapdoor.
Memos from the Prison Commission, part of the Home Office, detail how
officials agonised over whether to force the executioner into retirement
after suggestions from reports of his executions that he was "past the
job". The documents, released at the National Archives in Kew, west
London, had been due to remain undisclosed until 2020 but have been
released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Pierrepoint was the brother of Britain's 1st chief executioner, Henry
Pierrepoint, and uncle and tutor of Albert, Britain's most prolific
executioner with 435 hangings, and the subject of a recent film starring
Timothy Spall.
But by the early 1940s, it seems that Thomas, who hanged his 1st man in
1909, was showing signs of wear and tear.
A letter from the medical officer of Liverpool Prison in February 1943
detailed how Thomas, who conducted 294 hangings in a 37-year career as
chief executioner, had endangered his assistant, whose job it was to check
that the legs of the condemned were tied.
The doctor wrote: "He obviously regards speed as the hallmark of
efficiency and there hardly seems time for him to ensure the assistant is
clear of the trap.
"This zeal for speed may be related to a desire to show that his ability
is unimpaired by advancing years."
In another account of the same execution, the unnamed governor of the jail
said: "Mr Pierrepoint on this, as on previous occasions, appeared to me to
allow only the barest margin of safety in assuring himself that the
assistant was clear of the trapdoors before pulling the lever."
Other letters sent to the Prison Commission complained that Pierrepoint
had "smelled strongly of drink" during two executions at Durham Prison in
1940.
In his memoirs Albert, who revealed his opposition to capital punishment
long after its abolition and his retirement, recalled how his uncle had
told him: "If you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all." His
father was sacked in 1910 after arriving drunk at Chelmsford Prison for an
execution.
An internal memo documenting the allegations against Thomas, whose nephew
was his assistant until 1941, said: " Pierrepoint was getting past his
job, he was uncertain and it was doubtful whether his sight was good." But
he won backing from other senior prison officials for his work, paid at a
rate of 15 per hanging, or 450 today.
Despite misgivings, the authorities were forced to continue employing
Pierrepoint because at the height of the Second World War they could find
no one to replace him.
(source: The Independent)
As the longest-serving member of the Pierrepoint dynasty of Britain's
chief executioners, Thomas Pierrepoint prided himself on the speed with
which he dispatched his clients. His record from cell to gallows was 60
seconds.
But secret records released today show the Home Office faced an
unprecedented rebellion from prison governors and doctors. They were
concerned that, when Pierrepoint was still working at 72, his eyesight was
fading and he had become so obsessed with carrying out super-efficient
hangings that he nearly sent his assistant through the trapdoor.
Memos from the Prison Commission, part of the Home Office, detail how
officials agonised over whether to force the executioner into retirement
after suggestions from reports of his executions that he was "past the
job". The documents, released at the National Archives in Kew, west
London, had been due to remain undisclosed until 2020 but have been
released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Pierrepoint was the brother of Britain's 1st chief executioner, Henry
Pierrepoint, and uncle and tutor of Albert, Britain's most prolific
executioner with 435 hangings, and the subject of a recent film starring
Timothy Spall.
But by the early 1940s, it seems that Thomas, who hanged his 1st man in
1909, was showing signs of wear and tear.
A letter from the medical officer of Liverpool Prison in February 1943
detailed how Thomas, who conducted 294 hangings in a 37-year career as
chief executioner, had endangered his assistant, whose job it was to check
that the legs of the condemned were tied.
The doctor wrote: "He obviously regards speed as the hallmark of
efficiency and there hardly seems time for him to ensure the assistant is
clear of the trap.
"This zeal for speed may be related to a desire to show that his ability
is unimpaired by advancing years."
In another account of the same execution, the unnamed governor of the jail
said: "Mr Pierrepoint on this, as on previous occasions, appeared to me to
allow only the barest margin of safety in assuring himself that the
assistant was clear of the trapdoors before pulling the lever."
Other letters sent to the Prison Commission complained that Pierrepoint
had "smelled strongly of drink" during two executions at Durham Prison in
1940.
In his memoirs Albert, who revealed his opposition to capital punishment
long after its abolition and his retirement, recalled how his uncle had
told him: "If you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all." His
father was sacked in 1910 after arriving drunk at Chelmsford Prison for an
execution.
An internal memo documenting the allegations against Thomas, whose nephew
was his assistant until 1941, said: " Pierrepoint was getting past his
job, he was uncertain and it was doubtful whether his sight was good." But
he won backing from other senior prison officials for his work, paid at a
rate of 15 per hanging, or 450 today.
Despite misgivings, the authorities were forced to continue employing
Pierrepoint because at the height of the Second World War they could find
no one to replace him.
(source: The Independent)