Murder of John Alan West
The murder of John Alan West on 7 April 1964 was the crime which led to the last death sentences being carried out in the United Kingdom.
West, a 53-year-old van driver for a laundry company, was beaten and stabbed to death by Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen, who had gone to rob him at his home in Seaton, Cumberland.
On leaving school at 15 he worked as a page boy at a hotel in Carlisle and an engine cleaner for British Railways, in between periods of unemployment.
He was given a supervision order in 1957 and sent to a hostel in Bristol; later that year he enlisted in the Border Regiment but was discharged in March 1958 as "unfit under existing standards".
[4] He had stolen two half crowns from a friend while he was distracted, and he obtained a 16s loan from a police station by claiming to have lost his wallet at his mother's funeral.
[6] Evans enlisted again, this time into the Lancastrian Brigade, in October 1963 but was discharged on 14 November 1963 when his criminal convictions and failure to disclose them came to light.
For two years after leaving the army, Allen worked for two trucking companies; he was dismissed by the second in October 1961 when he was given a promotion and was said to have been unable to handle the responsibility.
[9] While he was working as a lorry driver, Allen received his first criminal conviction, for aiding and abetting the taking of a car in August 1960; he was given a conditional discharge.
He found a job as a labourer with an agricultural trading society, but after two months he injured his back and was unable to work; he was not dismissed until January 1964.
At about 3:00 the following morning his next-door neighbour was awoken by a noise in West's house and, looking out of the window, observed a car disappearing down the street.
The neighbour called the police, who found West dead from severe head injuries and a stab wound to the chest.
[15] Evans and Allen had stolen a car (a black 1959 Ford Prefect, registration NXC 771) to go to West's house, and later abandoned it in a builders' yard in Ormskirk, Lancashire.
At 1.00pm, on Wednesday, 8 April, less than 36 hours after West's murder, the police turned up (in search of Evans) at Allen's home in Clarendon Road, Preston.
Evans was soon found on a street corner at Phillips Park Road in Miles Platting and a search revealed West's watch.
[26] The indictment was for capital murder under the Homicide Act 1957, because West had been killed in the course of a theft (there was an additional charge of robbery with aggravation of two bank pass books and a gold watch).
The affectionate tone had suddenly ended when she heard Evans' account of the murder at the Magistrates' Court, and she had then written of her "deep and bitter hatred" of him.
The judge later directed the jury to treat her evidence with caution; however the prosecution obtained permission to introduce her first statement which showed that her story had remained consistent.
After considering the case for three hours[30] the jury found both men equally guilty, and both were sentenced to "suffer death in the manner authorised by law".
On 10 August, the Home Office sent out letters announcing that the Secretary of State had "failed to discover any sufficient ground to justify him in advising Her Majesty to interfere with the due course of law" in both cases.
[35] Gwynne Owen Evans was hanged by the executioner Harry Allen at Manchester's Strangeways Prison at 8:00 am on 13 August 1964, assisted by Royston Rickard.
At the same time, Peter Allen was hanged at Liverpool's Walton Prison by Robert Leslie Stewart, assisted by Harry Robinson.
[37] According to medical reports released to the National Archives in mid-2017, Gwynne Evans had 'serious psychological problems', which, had his defence team entered a plea of diminished responsibility at his trial, could have led to his escaping being hanged.
