Explore stories of those executed at Walton Prison, including the last in Britain and cases of murder.
Sixty years ago, Britain stopped executions. Peter Allan and Gwynne Evans were the last. They were hanged August 13, 1964 at different prisons at the same time.
Elizabeth Berry killed her daughter in 1887. She poisoned her with creosote for insurance money. The daughter, Edith, lived with her aunt before. Berry tried to increase the insurance payout. She also poisoned her mother before.
Gustav Rau and Willem Schmidt were sailors. In 1902, they killed their captain and six other crew members. Otto Monson was with them, and they set the ship on fire.
Other crew members survived and told what happened. Rau, Schmidt, and Monson were arrested. Monson was young, so he did not get death. Rau and Schmidt were hanged in 1903.
George Ball killed his boss in 1913. Her name was Christina Bradfield. He hit her with a blunt object, sewed her in a sack with weights, and dumped her in a canal. He was hanged in 1914.
Peter Griffiths murdered June Anne Devaney in 1948. She was only three years old. He took her from a hospital and killed her near it. Police used mass fingerprinting to find him, and he was hanged.
George Kelly was wrongly convicted in 1950. He was accused of murder at a cinema despite having an alibi. Witnesses lied, and he was executed. His conviction was overturned later.
Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans murdered a taxi driver during a robbery in 1964. They were the last people hanged in Britain. The death penalty was stopped soon after, ending for murder in 1969 and completely in 1998.