Guenther Fritz Erwin Podola (8 February 1929 – 5 November 1959, alias Mike Colato) was a German-born petty thief, and the last man to be hanged in the UK for killing a police officer.

[7] Podola shot one of the officers, Detective Sergeant Raymond Purdy, through the heart with a Radom 9mm semi-automatic pistol,[3] after he ran into a house at 105 Onslow Square.

[4] Neurologist Michael Ashby gave evidence as an expert medical witness at his trial, as did psychiatrist Archibald Leigh, who claimed Podola was feigning his illness.

[8] The jury took 38 minutes[9] to find Podola guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death by the trial judge, Mr Justice Edmund Davies.

[8] The Home Secretary, Rab Butler, under a little-known and little-used power, referred the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal, which upheld the conviction.

The Attorney-General's refusal of leave to appeal to the House of Lords brought the case to a close in a fresh outburst of public controversy.