Syd Dernley (29 December 1920 – 1 November 1994) was appointed assistant executioner by the Home Office in 1949, and participated in 20 hangings until he was replaced in 1954.
On 8 May 1951, Pierrepoint and Dernley escorted convicted murderer James Inglis to the gallows immediately adjacent, and hanged him without delay — the fastest hanging on record, taking only seven seconds from the time his cell door was opened until his fatal 'long drop'.
[1] On 27 April 1954, Dernley was removed from the Home Office Official List of Assistant Executioners.
However, the real reason for Dernley's removal from the list was undoubtedly because in 1954 he had been convicted at the Nottinghamshire Quarter Sessions of publishing obscene material.
[3] A welder in civilian life, Dernley was dubbed, albeit incorrectly, as also Albert Pierrepoint, "the last British hangman" (in fact, this title belongs jointly to Harry Allen and Robert Leslie Stewart).