Derek Bentley was sentenced to death and was subsequently hanged on 28 January 1953. He was 19 years old and had been found guilty of murder. However, many thought that his trial was a great legal tragedy and it served to help end the use of the death penalty in Britain a few years later.
So, why was he hanged?
It all began on a Sunday in November 1952 when Bentley attempted to carry out a burglary with his friend Christopher Craig. Whose idea the burglary was isn’t known for sure, although the personalities of the two men do suggest who might have been the leader. Craig was loud and had a high opinion of himself, whereas Bentley, in contrast, was quiet and reserved, and very much impressed by his younger friend’s confidence. Both were armed with knives, but Craig also had a revolver concealed in his jacket, something that Bentley almost certainly knew about. Bentley himself also carried a knuckleduster, a small metal weapon that could seriously hurt someone in a fight.
