On this day – August 13th

Last executions in UK

The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences carried out in the United Kingdom.

West was a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry when he was killed by Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen who had gone to rob him at his home in Seaton, Cumberland. Both murderers were unemployed and had a history of petty crime; they were arrested and charged within two days of the crime.

At trial, each blamed the other, but the jury by its verdict found both responsible. Use of the death penalty had been declining and the decision not to reprieve the two came as a surprise; their death sentences were executed on 13 August 1964, in prisons in Manchester and Liverpool. The death penalty was abolished 15 months later.

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