"Let him have it, Chris"

@forumhostpb wrote:

Actually, not so Bat. As the law stood at the time (not as it NOW stands) Bentley was illiterate and of low intelligence, almost borderline retarded. However, he was not suffering from epilepsy at the time of the alleged offence, that he was not a “feeble-minded person” under the Mental Deficiency Acts and that he was sane and fit to plead and stand trial.

English law at the time did not recognise the concept of diminished responsibility due to retarded development, though it existed in Scottish law (it was introduced to England by the Homicide Act 1957).

Criminal insanity – where the accused is unable to distinguish right from wrong – was then the only medical defence to murder. Bentley, while suffering severe debilitation, was not insane.

Chris Craig would not have faced execution if found guilty, as he was below the age of 18 when PC Miles was shot. Bentley on the other hand was not.

The key issue at their trial was that the doctrine of ‘constructive malice’ meant that a charge of manslaughter was not an option, as the “malicious intent” of the armed robbery was transferred to the shooting….. hence they were BOTH charged with murder.

Bentley’s best defence would have been that he was effectively under arrest when PC Miles was killed; however, this was only after an attempt to escape, during which a police officer had been wounded and the Court (and the jury) wouldn’t accept this as a valid defence.

Bentley was quite rightly convicted (as the law stood in the early 1950’s) and therefore quite rightly and lawfully executed.

It’s interesting to note that at his first posthumous appeal in 1966, the finding of guilt for murder was upheld by the Court of Appeal – although the sentence itself was not.

It was only after some seriously heavy political interference by Tony Blair, in his constant quest for popularity, was he fully pardoned in 1998.

well said that man. whilst i think dereks killing was wrong, and he shouldnt have been killed. the laws have since been altered beyond all sense. all the hoodrats have to do now, is to claim they have a.d.h.d or a learning disability and they walk. from some pretty nasty crimes including rape and robbery. the pendulum has swung too far the other way now. but i offer no alternatives because frankly i’d shoot em all. but im just a soft old hillbilly. but tell ya wot. the crime rate in my village is pretty small cos we sort it between us, and the coppers leave us be. even the old stocks were used new years eve, when 4 hoodrats from a neighbouring village tried to vandalise the xmas lights. two of em were hog tied and ty wrapped to the stock rings for the duration of some 2 hours. they wont be back for a long time i reckon. and we havent heard a thing from mummy or daddy. :wink: