Cardiff Gaol

With special thanks to Monty Dart for her help with this article.

19 men and one woman were hanged within the precincts of Cardiff Gaol in the 20th century. Three men were hanged in public between 1832 and 1857 and a further two in private in the 19th century.

The prison was built between 1827 and 1832 at Adamsdown in the Crockherbtown area of the city as the County Gaol for Glamorganshire. As built it could house 80 ordinary prisoners and 20 debtors in three wings.

In the early part of the 20th century Cardiff had a purpose built execution shed containing the gallows set up in a small yard quite close to the main gate and totally hidden from view by high walls. It was built of red brick, with a slate roof, and the inside walls were whitewashed. The trapdoors were set over a 12 foot deep brick lined “pit” accessible from above via stairs.

It is thought that a modern execution suite was constructed sometime in the 1920’s, with the condemned cell and gallows in close proximity, as became standard practice throughout the UK.

Those executed, at Cardiff in the 20th century, all for murder, were :

Name	Date of execution	Executioner/assistant
William Lacey	21/08/1900	James Billington & William Billington
Eric Lange	21/12/1904	William Billington & John Ellis
Rhoda Willis (female)	14/08/1907	Henry & Thomas Pierrepoint
George Stills	13/12/1907	Henry & Thomas Pierrepoint
Noah Percy Collins	30/12/1908	Henry Pierrepoint & John Ellis
Hugh McLaren	14/08/1913	John Ellis & William Willis
Edgar Bindon	25/03/1914	John Ellis & George Brown
Alec Bakerlis	10/04/1917	John Ellis & Edward Taylor
Thomas Caler	14/04/1920	John Ellis & William Willis
Lester Hamilton	16/08/1921	John Ellis & Seth Mills
George Thomas	09/03/1926	Robert Baxter & Thomas Phillips
Edward Rowlands & Daniel Driscoll	27/01/1928	Robert Baxter, Lionel Mann, Thomas Phillips & Robert Wilson (double hanging)
William Corbett	12/08/1931	Robert Baxter & Henry Pollard
George Roberts	08/08/1940	Thomas Pierrepoint & Stanley Cross
Howard Grossley	05/09/1945	Thomas Pierrepoint & Steve Wade
Evan Hadyn Evans	03/02/1948	Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Kirk
Clifford Wills	09/12/1948	Steve Wade & Harry Critchell
Ajit Singh	07/05/1952	Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Allen
Mahmood Mattan	03/09/1952	Albert Pierrepoint & Robert Leslie Stewart

William Augustus Lacey 21/08/1900

29 year old William Augustus Lacey was a native of Jamaica who had married 19 year old Pauline at Swansea Registry Office at Easter 1900. They lived in lodgings at 21 Barry Terrace in Pontypridd.

Lacey was extremely jealous of Pauline which led to constant rows. Such was the level of his jealousy that on occasion he would not go to his job at the Great Western Colliery in case Pauline was seeing other men while he was at work.

Pauline wrote to her father, telling him of her marital woes and on the 4th of July 1900 he replied with an offer to let her live at his house. This sparked another row when Pauline announced her intentions and Lacey threatened “to do for her.” On Thursday the 6th of July they quarrelled again and Lacey didn’t go to work. This was repeated on Friday the 6th of July and culminated in Lacey cutting Pauline’s throat with a razor. Their landlady heard a scream and found Pauline’s body. Lacey was gone but gave himself up to police later in the day.

In his first statement he told police that he had killed Pauline in a fit of passion because she had said that she was moving out and would not be there when he got home.

At his committal hearing in the magistrate’s court he alleged that Pauline had wanted to die and asked him to cut her throat. He refused and tried to get the razor from her. In the struggle her throat was cut but she was not dead. She asked him to finish her off, which he did.

Lacey came to trial at Swansea before Mr. Justice Grantham on the 2nd of August 1900. A third version of events was now put forward. This was that Lacey was totally innocent and that Pauline had committed suicide. The reason for this was that she believed that Lacey was having sex with her sister. The previous statements were made because he was excited and confused. Unsurprisingly the jury saw through this pack of lies and convicted him. He was hanged on Tuesday the 21st of August 1900 by James and William Billington.

The execution rated just a paragraph in the Welsh newspapers of the day.

Eric Lange - “The Pentre Murder” 21/12/1904.

On the night of the 10th/11th of September 1904 there was a break in at the Bridgend Hotel in Pentre, a small town in the Rhondda valley. The landlord was 37 year old John Emlyn Jones who lived in the hotel with his wife Mary and several staff members.

Mr. Jones had only been the hotel’s manager for some nine months and one of his duties was to receive the takings from the butcher’s shop across the road. On this Saturday they amounted to £32, which Mr. Jones was counting and recording. He finally got to bed around 2.30 a.m. on the Sunday morning. About an hour later Mary’s sleep was disturbed and she saw the face of a man crouching down at the foot of the bed. She was about to wake her husband when the man leapt at her and hit her a heavy blow to the temple. The commotion woke John who immediately tried to defend his wife and tackle the intruder. However John got the worst of it and was battered and then stabbed in the chest before the attacker made his escape.

A member of the hotel staff ran for Dr. Thomas who lived just 300 yards away but when he arrived at 3.45 a.m. it was too late and John had succumbed to his injuries.

Police Inspector Williams arrived and examined the crime scene. He located the murder weapon which was a heavy, metal file that had been wrapped in brown paper. He noted that entry had been gained using a ladder which was found propped against a window. Williams also discovered a pair of men’s shoes and a cap, so told his officers to be on the look out for a man with blood stained clothes and without a cap or shoes.

Constable David Woods took up position in Rhonda Road overlooking the railway line and his hunch proved correct at about 4.30 a.m. when a man fitting the description his inspector had given came into view. Woods arrested this man who gave his name as Eric Lange, a 30 year old Russian seaman from Riga. He also used the name Eugene Lorenz and was actually a German citizen. He had worked at the Bridgend Hotel for the previous manager and thus knew his way around.

Lange was tried at Swansea before Mr. Justice Bray on the 28th of November 1904. His defence was that it was an accomplice who had stabbed Mr. Jones. As there was no eyewitness account of there being more than one intruder present, this was not believed and Lange was convicted. He was transferred to Cardiff Gaol for execution.

This was carried out at 8.00 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday the 21st of December 1904 by William Billington assisted by John Ellis. Lange was led to the gallows by two warders and the execution was over very quickly. He was given a drop of about 5’ 9” according to one of the newspaper reporters who was present, just a little more than his height.

Some 500 - 600 people had gathered outside the prison to see the notices of execution posted.

Rhoda Willis (Leslie James) 14/08/1907.

Leslie James was the last woman to be hanged for baby-farming in the UK and also the last woman to be hanged in Wales. The full details of her case are here.

George Stills (13/12/1907).

George Stills battered his mother, 70 year old Rachel Hannah Stills, to death at their home on Tuesday the 10th of September 1907. George, his mother and brother John lived at 7 Bridgend Road, Pontycymmer in Wales.

George (aged 30) had battered and kicked his mother and then dragged her body out onto the pavement and pulled her skirt up over her head. Two neighbours tried to intervene but George threatened them so they went for the police. When the police arrived they found George wiping blood off his hands and John putting his boots on. He told them “I am the one you want” and they arrested him without a struggle.

The post-mortem on Rachel revealed a catalogue of injuries, including cuts and bruises from this attack and scars from previous ones.

Stills came to trial at Cardiff on the 21st of November 1907, before Mr. Justice Sutton and was prosecuted by J. Lloyd Morgan and A C Lawrence. The defence was led by B Francis Williams.

The only defence was one of drink – a witness testified that George was drunk when he left the pub that lunchtime. The jury were not impressed by this argument and found him guilty after a trial lasting less than one day.

The Holy Sacrament was administered about 7.30 a.m. in the condemned cell. Stills was hanged at 8.01 am. on Friday the 13th of December 1907 by Henry Pierrepoint, assisted by his brother Tom. It is estimated that some 200 people had gathered outside the prison to see the notices of execution posted on the gates.

It was reported that “Stills was given a drop of seven feet and his death was mercifully instantaneous, and there was hardly a quiver of the rope”.

At ten minutes past eight Chief Warder Bryant emerged from the prison and nailed the following notice on the door:-

“Declaration of the Sheriff and Others. We the undersigned, hereby declare that the judgment of death was this day executed on George Stills in his Majesty's prison of Cardiff in the presence of Walter Rice Evans, Sheriff of Glamorgan; H. B. Le Mesurier. Governor of the said prison; Alfred Pugh. Chaplain of the said prison. Dated 15th December 1907.”

The inquest on the body was held at ten o'clock by the city coroner, Mr. W. L. Yorath, in the prison infirmary. Thomas Andrew Flynn, deputy Under Sheriff (representing the sheriff), gave evidence of the conviction of Stills and the death sentence. That sentence had been duly carried out in his presence and that of the chaplain, the governor, and the medical officer. Dr. H. G. G. Cook, medical officer at the prison, stated that the deceased died from “dislocation of the vertebrae and compression of the spinal cord.”

His body was later buried in an un-marked grave within the prison.

Noah Percy Collins - “The Abertridwr murder” (30/12/1908).

Noah Percy Collins, 21, a collier at Abertridwr, and sometime British soldier in the Boer War, was hanged at Cardiff Gaol on the 30th of December 1908 for the murder of Anita Dorothy Lawrence, aged twenty, an attractive girl and the daughter of his land-lady, to whom he had been paying attention, but who had been unresponsive to his advances. The executioners were the brothers Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint. There was no element of mystery or even uncertainty about the tragic affair which had its sequel on the gallows that morning. Collins, after killing the girl, immediately gave himself up and described what he had done, adding that he had “weighed it all up” before committing the deed. The defence at trial was insanity, but the doctors' evidence disposed of that suggestion entirely.

The story of the crime “because she refused to kiss me!”

Noah Patrick Collins was condemned to death after a one day trial at the Glamorgan Assize by Mr. Justice Bucknill on December 11th 1908 for the murder of Anita Dorothy Lawrence on the 17th of August 1907.

The deceased girl, twenty years of age, who lived at home with her father and mother, was looking forward to all that the world had in store for one so young (and with considerable attractions). Her father was at sea, and her mother took in lodgers, of whom one was (Noah) Patrick Collins. He occupied a bedroom with another lodger, Donovan, and a brother of the deceased girl. On the morning of the tragedy Collins was the last of the three to get up, and said it was his intention to have a day off, to try and get work.

Dorothy had got up to prepare her brother's breakfast, and was then left alone in the kitchen. This was about six o'clock, and until about 7.15, when screams were heard by the mother, who was in her bedroom. Mrs. Lawrence rushed downstairs, and on her way heard a repeated shout, ‘Oh, Ma!’ She found the kitchen door locked, and on opening it discovered her daughter, Dorothy, lying on her back on the floor. Her head was in a pool of blood, and her body was surrounded by the crimson stream. Collins was coolly standing close by, and on the mother's entrance he held up his hand, and then rushed into the scullery. Hearing the mother's shrieks, a neighbour, named Williams, came and found the girl was dead. There were two knives on the floor. He hastened to inform the police.

Collins left the house, climbed over a fence, and, proceeded along the railway line, where a signalman saw him with a blood-stained bandage on one hand. Collins said: “Fetch the police when you like. I meant to give myself up.”

On being taken into custody he admitted that he had threatened the girl before, and he had apparently weighed up the entire affair. At the police-station he said: “It was because she refused to kiss me.” At the police-court proceedings Collins pleaded guilty, and was remanded to the assizes, where Mr. Justice Bucknill delivered the death sentence after a full weighing up of the sensational evidence. The judge added the significant remark. Collins “could not hope for mercy”, and this proved true, for, although a petition, signed by local people, calling for clemency was presented to the Home Secretary, the last dread sentence was allowed to take its course. The murder was committed with a stiletto, two of which Collins purchased at Cardiff on the Friday before. The blade of one of the weapons broke off in the girl's chest.

Dorothy's throat was cut from ear to ear, severing the jugular vein. She was also stabbed below the heart, and thrice in the back. In all she had seven separate wounds.

Collins' statement

When arrested and charged Collins made the following statement concerning the doings of that August morning: “I intended going to work on the screens. I heard a man had left, but I thought I would wait, for two reasons first, to see how Dorothy would be to me. Of course, if she would be all right, I would go to work. I asked her if she would kiss me. She refused, and ran around the table, and said she would shout to her mother. Then she made for the door. It was then that I lifted-up the knife to her”.

A sister's story

Beatrice Lawrence, aged fourteen, sister of the deceased, in an interview at the time of the murder, said: “I was in bed at, the time, and did hear a quarrel between my sister and Collins, but about ten minutes to seven there was a shout of ‘Mam’ and then Mother and I went downstairs to see what was the matter. I saw my sister lying on the floor, bleeding. I think Collins wanted to keep company with my sister, but my sister was not willing. I have never heard a quarrel between them. Collins had been lodging with us for a little over twelve months.”

The girl's locket

When arrested Collins had in his jacket a portrait of Dorothy. This he treasured highly, and after the death sentence was pronounced the judge ordered that the locket should be restored to Collins, a solace to him in the days waiting for death.

Collins's record.

Collins, who was 24 years of age, was a native of Cadoxton, in Barry, South Wales, where his parents had died during his infancy. When eight years old he became an inmate of Ely Industrial School, a Workhouse for pauper children and subsequently somewhat of a rover. He lived for some time in America and Canada, and took part in the latter portion of the South African War as a member of the Colonial Mounted Force. He was short in stature and his temperament was described as moody and studious, and he was most temperate in his habits. He worked as a collier at Abertridwr. He spent Sunday, the day before the murder, at Cadoxton, Barry, where he was well known.

Hugh McLaren - a “hate crime” (14/08/1913).

29 year old McLaren worked as a labourer in Cardiff Docks and for reasons unknown, had taken a great dislike to 22 year old Julian Biros, a Spanish labourer there, who slept rough in the Crown Patent Fuel Works as did many others and shared a disused railway carriage as a kitchen.

Another labourer there was John McGill and on Saturday the 22nd of March 1913, McLaren confided in him that he intended to kill Biros whom he referred to as “that dago” and wanted to cut his throat from “lug to lug” (ear to ear).

The following morning Biros went to Roath Basin in the hope of getting employment in unloading the S.S. Dee which was in the process of docking there. Biros was with two other men, Patrick McGuirk and James Walsh when McLaren appeared and suggested making some tea. He pulled a packet of tea from his pocket which Biros identified it as his property. He demanded that McLaren give it back and this led to McLaren pulling a knife and stabbing Biros, who died later that Sunday in hospital. The stabbing had been witnessed by three men, McGuirk, Walsh and Alphonso Burke who was aboard the S.S. Dee.

The police found McLaren close to his home at 58 Adam Street in Cardiff and arrested him without a struggle. He later told them that “I got nothing to say. I could kill a dozen dagos like that. They couldn’t touch me for it.” But of course they could “touch him” for it.

He came to trial at Swansea on the 18th of July 1913, before Mr. Justice Coleridge. He pleaded not guilty and blamed the poor medical treatment Biros had received. Unsurprisingly, especially given the eyewitness testimony, the jury were not impressed with this defence and convicted him. It appears that the motive was pure racism.

McLaren was duly hanged on Thursday the 14th of August 1913, by John Ellis, assisted by William Willis.

Edgar Bindon (25/03/1914).

19 year old Edgar Lewis George Bindon shot his neighbour and estranged girlfriend, 20 year old Maud Mulholland, in Cowbridge Road in Cardiff on the night of Sunday the 9th of November, 1913.

Maud’s parents didn’t approve of the relationship and she soon ended it and started seeing Bernard Campion. This she ended too, but then re-started in late October of 1913.

On the evening of the 9th of November she had been with Bernard and at around 10 p.m. she offered to accompany him to the tram stop to catch his ride home. Maud started her own homeward journey along a side street before turning into Cowbridge Road. Here Bindon caught up with her and started shooting at her with a revolver he had purchased the previous day. The attack was witnessed by 15 year old Randolph Howe who heard a shot and then looked out of his bedroom window at around 10.50 p.m. to see Bindon chasing Maud and firing at her. John Hoskins and Henry Griffiths also witnessed the murder from Cowbridge Road. His last shot was fired as she lay wounded in the road. Three bullets had hit Maud, including the fatal one to her heart.

Bindon didn’t attempt to escape and admitted the crime at the police station, telling officers “It’s alright. I have had my revenge and will die with a good heart.”

Bindon was tried at Cardiff on the 6th of March 1914 before Mr. Justice Rowlatt. Strangely the jury made a strong recommendation to mercy, but as this was a case of deliberate shooting there could be no reprieve. Bindon did not appeal and was duly hanged by John Ellis and William Willis on Wednesday the 25th of March 1914.

Alec Bakerlis - (10/04/1917).

24 year old Bakerlis lodged with George Fort who ran a lodging house for Greek sailors in Bute Road Cardiff. He had formed a relationship with George’s 19 year old daughter, Winifred, which went well until he caught her talking to any other lodger, whereupon he would throw a temper tantrum.

These tantrums continued until Winifred had finally had enough and decided to break off the relationship. She asked her friend, Rhonda Heard, to return Bakerlis’ letters and a ring he had given her, but Bakerlis refused to take them from Rhonda and demanded that Winifred bring them to him, herself.

On Christmas evening of 1916 Winifred and Rhonda were chatting near Bute Street Bridge when Bakerlis approached them and demanded the ring and letters. Winifred gave him the ring and told him she would run home and get the letters. This sparked another tantrum and Bakerlis knocked Winifred down and began stabbing her, in front of Rhonda and other witnesses. Police Constable Arthur Moss heard the screams and commotion and saw Bakerlis running towards him with the knife still in his hand. He was able to arrest Bakerlis who immediately confessed to the stabbing. Winifred died from her injuries on the 28th of December, so Bakerlis was then charged with murder.

Bakerlis was tried at Cardiff on the 6th of March 1917, before Mr. Justice Bailhache, the jury taking just 10 minutes to return a guilty verdict. He was subsequently hanged by John Ellis, assisted by Edward Taylor, on Tuesday the 10th of April 1917.

Thomas Caler (14/04/1920).

23 year old Thomas Caler was a black South African and a stoker on a merchant ship, the SS Fountains Abbey, that was docked in Cardiff.

Ahmed Ibrahim, his wife 22 year old Gladys May and their two children, May aged two and Aysha Emily aged 8 months lived at 52 Christina Street in Cardiff. Ahmed made a business trip to London, starting on the 12th of December and his wife and family were alive and well when he left. The following day around 10 pm. Gladys was chatting with a neighbour, Alice Ali, so was still alive then. The following lunchtime (Sunday the 14th of December 1919) Alice noticed that Gladys’ front door was open and discovered her friend and little Aysha dead. Both had their throats cut. Alice ran for the police and returned with Inspector Adams. Adams could see that the house had been ransacked and organised a thorough search. He discovered a suitcase in which there were letters bearing the name Tom Caler. He also found that an old fashioned gramophone was missing but its horn was lying broken on the floor. Investigations located Caler aboard the Fountains Abbey. The docks’ night watchman, Pridu Rahn, recalled seeing Caler return to the ship around 2 a.m. on Sunday the 14th of December, carrying a gramophone without a horn and a parcel which when Rahn challenged him he threw into the water. Caler told police that he had been back on the ship at 10 p.m. on the Saturday night but this was not corroborated by his shipmates who said he had gone ashore at 3 pm. on the Saturday and not returned until 2 am. on Sunday.

Caler was charged with the murders and was tried at Cardiff on the 15th and 16th of March 1920 before Mr. Justice Salter. It was unclear from the evidence given at the trial whether Caler was having an affair with Gladys May or whether there was another reason for him to go to her house.

Caler was hanged by John Ellis and William Willis on Wednesday the 14th of April 1920.

Lester Augustus Hamilton (16/08/1921).

Hamilton was a 25 year old Jamaican ship’s fireman who was living in a seaman’s boarding house in Cardiff. He was in a relationship with 17 year old Doris Appleton who lived with her sister, Edna and mother at 57 Cwmdare Street in Cardiff.

On the evening of Saturday the 12th of February 1921 Hamilton went to Doris’ home, taking with him a friend, whom she did not like the look of. She refused to let them in. This led to an argument and Hamilton demanded to know where Doris had been. Edna told him that Doris had been with her. The argument escalated when Hamilton again tried to come in and Doris said “Don’t invite that kind of man into my mother’s house.” At this Hamilton pulled a gun and shot Doris dead. He walked off and a few moments later a second gun shot was heard. Hamilton had shot himself in the head. He was taken to hospital where he recovered but was partially paralyzed on his left side.

Hamilton was tried at Swansea on the 25th of July 1921 before Mr. Justice Salter. He claimed that when he went to the house, the reason why Doris would not let him in was that she was entertaining a Japanese sailor. Also that she had made a racist remark about his skin colour. Given Edna’s testimony the jury were not having any of this and found him guilty after deliberating for just under an hour.

Hamilton was hanged on Tuesday the 16th of August 1921. John Ellis and Seth Mills were the executioners. The LPC4 form noted the paralysis and it has been claimed that Hamilton was unable to walk to the gallows and had to be carried there. He weighed 151 lbs. and was given a drop of 7’ 1”.

George Thomas (09/03/1926).

Marie Beddoe Thomas was a 19 year old girl living in Rhymney Valley in South Wales. She had been in a relationship with 26 year old George Thomas (no relation) since December 1924. On the 26th of March 1926, Marie had written a letter to Thomas, which upset him. He went to her home but she refused to see him, sending a note via her mother simply saying she was sorry.

For a while Thomas and Marie went their separate ways, dating other people, however the relationship was not over between them and they started writing to each other and meeting up again. Marie lied to Thomas that her new boyfriend was physically abusive towards her, perhaps in an effort to make him jealous. It seems that marriage was discussed but these plans came to nothing.

On the 4th of December 1925, Thomas bought a new knife from one David Sallis.

Marie went to the Outside Zion Chapel with her friend Harriet Lewis on the evening of Sunday the 6th of December. Thomas appeared and seemed to push Marie twice. She collapsed and it was only then that Harriett realised that her friend had been stabbed. Thomas then turned the knife on himself, plunging it into his chest. Both were taken to hospital, where Marie later died.

Marie’s mother handed notes to the police, written by Thomas, saying he intended to kill himself, as he felt trapped in the relationship.

By the 16th of February 1926, Thomas was sufficiently recovered to be able to stand trial at Cardiff, before Mr. Justice Frazer. It took the jury 50 minutes to return a guilty verdict but with a recommendation to mercy.

This was not forthcoming and Thomas was hanged on Tuesday the 9th of March 1926 by Robert Baxter and Thomas Phillips. He was recorded as being 160 lbs in weight and of proportional build with a “thick muscular neck’. A drop of seven feet was sufficient to cause fracture/dislocation. The LPC4 form noted that the “Head was loose and bent backwards”, presumably due to the eyelet of the noose ending up under the chin.

Daniel Driscoll and Edward Rowlands (27/01/1928).

In 1928 the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff, South Wales had a reputation for being a tough and dangerous area. Home to immigrants from all over the world it was a multi-cultural boiling pot of communities. Italians, Yemeni, Spanish, Caribbean, Greek and Irish were among the 40 plus different countries represented in this dockside area.

Did two innocent men die at the hands of public executioner? Read their case details here.

William Corbett (12/8/1931).

On Wednesday the 25th of March 1931 a murder tool place at 48 Caer Bragdy, off Lawrence Street in Caerphilly, the home of 32 year old William Corbett, his wife 39 year old Ethel Louisa and his stepdaughter, Florence.

Corbett had lost his job as a coal miner the previous year and this caused emotional and financial problems for him. He even threatened to commit suicide.

On Tuesday at the 24th of March Ethel had gone to the police station and told the officer that her husband was behaving strangely and asked for a razor, but would not tell her why he wanted it.

The following day Corbett and Ethel got into an argument and he punched her in the face. Florence tried to intervene to help her mother. Corbett held a razor to Florence’s throat and so Ethel now tried to intervene, but Corbett slashed her throat and then again tried to attack Florence but Ethel was able to get him to free Florence by throwing herself on his back before she died.

Corbett then tried to cut his own throat. He was arrested and treated in hospital, being well enough to stand trial at Swansea before Mr. Commissioner Walker on the 2nd of July 1931. His defence was insanity on the basis that he had no recollection of the crime. No motive could be shown for the murder, other that perhaps a temporary loss of temper.

He was hanged on Wednesday the 12th of August 1931, by Robert Baxter, assisted by Henry Pollard.

George Edward Roberts (08/08/1940).

29 year old George Edward Roberts was a guest at an engagement party being held at 69 Ferry Road in Cardiff on the night of Saturday the 3rd of February 1940. Among the other guests was 38 year old Arthur John Allen. The two men left together, apparently on good terms, around 2.45 am. on the Sunday morning. Allen wanted to use a phone box to call for a taxi but realised that he did not have any coins for it. Roberts invited him back to his lodgings at 54 Kent Street and made him a cup of tea.

Around 4.30 on the Sunday morning Roberts took Allen to Grange Town police station in the city. Giving the police the name of Mr. Smith, he claimed to have found Allen, badly injured in Bradford Street.

At this point Marjorie Clifford arrived at Grange Town police station. She was the sister of the owner of 54 Kent Street and knew Roberts as one of the tenants. She told police that she had been woken by the sounds of a fight and something heavy being dragged across the floor. Investigating she noticed bloodstains and decided to report this. She identified Roberts to the police who immediately became suspicious as to why he was using the alias Smith.

A constable accompanied Marjorie back to Kent Street where he found the bloodstains, together with Allen’s wallet.

Roberts was charged with causing grievous bodily harm as Allen was still alive at this stage. Stupidly he asked for a cigarette and tried to conceal five bloodstained notes in the packet.

Arthur Allen was interviewed in hospital but had no recollection of the attack. He finally died on the 9th of April.

Roberts was now charged with murder and came to trial at Cardiff before Mr. Justice MacNaghten on the 16th and 17th of July 1940. Roberts’ version of events was that he had taken money from Allen, who had then attacked him and he hit Allen in self defence. Unsurprisingly the jury were not impressed.

He was duly hanged by Thomas Pierrepoint and Stanley Cross on Thursday the 8th of August 1940.

Howard Joseph Grossley (05/09/1945).

Grossley was a 37 year old Canadian soldier who was serving in England during World War II. He had a wife back home but had been living with 29 year old Lily Griffiths since 1941 and had a son by her in 1943. With the war ending Grossley knew he would have to leave Lily and return to Canada and this he was unwilling to do.

On Monday the 12th of March 1945 he and Lily went for a walk down a country lane in Porthcawl and he told Lilly that he intended to kill himself. He produced his revolver and Lily grappled with him to try and prevent a suicide. Sadly she was the one who got shot. She died in hospital on the 16th of March, but was able to confirm Grossley’s statement to the police and that he had not meant to shoot her. However Grossley was charged with murder.

He was tried at Cardiff on the 11th and 12th of July 1945 before Mr. Justice Singleton. The defence case was that the killing was manslaughter as there was no intent to kill or harm Lily. The prosecution claimed that pulling back the gun’s hammer and pulling the trigger had been deliberate acts and also that Grossley had actually aimed the gun at Lily.

An appeal was dismissed and Grossley was hanged on Wednesday the 5th of September 1945 by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade.

Evan Hadyn Evans (03/02/1948).

22 year old miner, Evan Hadyn Evans was convicted of beating and kicking to death 76 year old Rachel Allen on the evening of Saturday the 11th of October 1947.

The two had had words in the Butcher’s Arms pub in the village of Wattstown near Pontypridd, earlier that evening.
As PC Steven Henton was passing the pub later he noted three young men leaving to go to a dance at Porth. The number was unusual as it was normally four and he identified the missing man as Evans.

He had left the pub around 10 pm. and visited Rachel who told him “if you don’t go from here I will report you to the police.”

At 11.20 pm. Mary Morris discovered Rachel’s body still holding her front door key in the front garden of her cottage. The post mortem showed she had been savagely punched and kicked.

Scotland Yard was called in and officers questioned Evans at his home in Heol Llechau.

They noted that he was wearing a blue suit and brown shoes, although he had been previously wearing a brown suit with black shoes. His mother had cleaned these for him but missed a piece of bone embedded in the front of the sole, which proved to be a piece of Rachel’s skull. The blood stained brown suit was discovered hidden in the base of the sofa. Evans made a confession, telling the police that he was somewhat drunk and lost his temper after the old lady had called him a pig.

He was tried at Cardiff on the 15th of December 1947 before Mr. Justice Byrne and attempted a defence of manslaughter on the grounds of Rachel’s provocation. The judge in his 45 minute summing up described the murder as “callous and filthy.” The jury clearly agreed.

Evans was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk on Tuesday the 3rd of February 1948.

Clifford Godfrey Wills (09/12/1948).

31 year old Clifford Wills had served in the army during World War II and after demob in 1945 worked as an electrician. He was having an affair with a 32 year old married woman, Sylvina May Parry who lived with her husband John and 14 year old son, Anthony, at 11 Wayfield Crescent in Pontnewdd in South Wales.

On Thursday the 8th of June 1948, John Parry had gone off to his job as a furnace man at G.K.N. as usual. He was on afternoon shift, working 2 pm - 10 pm and when he got home was surprised to find his wife was not there. He went for a walk round the village in search of her but returned home without finding any trace. The following morning he reported her missing to Sgt. Daniel Plummer. He then went home where he discovered Sylvina’s body hidden under the spare bed. He went back to Sgt. Plummer and the officer initiated a murder investigation. A thorough search of the house revealed bloody footprints and palm prints. The post mortem examination carried out by the Home Office pathologist, Professor J. M. Webster, showed that she had been battered with a large spanner, causing 12 separate scalp lacerations, stabbed three times in the chest and suffocated to death by having a coat sleeve forced down her throat. She also had other more superficial injuries.

Neighbours suggested the name of Clifford Godfrey Wills to the police, whom they had seen at the house. Officers visited his home at 3 Cromwell Place on the 9th of June where he was sleeping in a blood stained shirt. He told them that the stains were as a result of having had a fight with one George Logan. When interviewed Logan denied that anything of the sort had taken place.

Confronted with this, Wills changed his story and claimed that he had attempted suicide.

Wills was tried at Newport on the 8th and 9th of November 1948, before Mr. Justice Hallett. He absolutely denied the murder. The forensic evidence told a different story, however and he was easily convicted.

Wills did not expect to hang and even told Mr. Justice Hallett so before he was sentenced. This was because in April 1948 the House of Commons had voted to suspend capital punishment for five years but this was overturned by the House of Lords later that year. On the 1st of December the Home Secretary decided to allow “the law to take its course”. So on Thursday the 9th of December 1948 Wills was hanged by Steve Wade and Henry Critchell.

Ajit Singh (07/05/1952).

27 year old Singh was a Sikh, living in Bridgend in Wales. He had been in a relationship with a 27 year old widow, Joan Marion Thomas who lived at Dunraven Place in Bridgend. Joan’s family objected to this and she decided to break off the romance.

Singh would not accept what he no doubt saw as a racial slur and an insult to his honour and determined to kill Joan.

On December the 30th 1951 Joan and her friend Mildred Williams took the bus to visit Joan’s sister in Cefn Hirgoed Isolation Hospital. As they waited for the bus, Singh approached and asked Joan what she was doing. Joan responded that it was none of his business. The bus arrived and all three boarded and alighted close to the hospital. Here Singh again tried to speak to Joan. Mildred walked on ahead until she heard Joan scream “He’s got a gun!” As Joan tried to run towards the hospital Singh pursued her, firing several shots. She was hit twice in the back and once in the heart. A passer by, Beryl Gore, was also hit by a bullet but survived. Police Sergeant Geoffrey Robinson came upon the scene and asked Singh, who was cradling Joan’s body, what had happened. He responded “I shoot her”.

Singh was tried at Cardiff before Mr. Justice Byrne on the 19th and 20th of March 1951. The jury made a strong recommendation to mercy, but as the crime was a shooting and in a public place there could be no reprieve. (c.f. Ruth Ellis three years later)

Singh was hanged at Cardiff prison on Wednesday the 7th of May 1952, by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Allen. He was described on the LPC4 form as “spare but muscular” and weighing 148 lbs. so Albert set the drop at 7’ 8”.

The Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fife, at the urging of the Sikh community, allowed for the body of Singh to be cremated but ruled that the ashes be returned to the prison for burial.

Mahmood Mattan (08/09/1952).

Mahmood Mattan was a 28 year old Somali born dock labourer who was exonerated of murder in 1998, 46 years after his death.

41 year old Lily Volpert ran a shop at 203-204 Bute Street near Cardiff docks and lived behind the shop with her mother, sister and her niece. As was normal at this time the shop door had a bell to alert the owner when a customer came in. This rang a few minutes after 8 p.m. on Thursday the 6th of March 1952. At 8.20 p.m. Mr. Harold Cover came in but no one came to serve him. Looking around he saw Lily’s body lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He immediately went for the police. Lily’s throat had been slashed from behind and about £120 had been stolen.

Harold Cover told police that he had seen a man, whom he identified as Mahmood Mattan, coming from the doorway of the shop at 8.15 p.m. which it was thought was the time when the murder was committed. Cover also stated that the man he saw had a gold tooth.

Later police received information from Mrs. Mary Gray who ran a secondhand shop in Bridge Street. She told them that Mattan, whom she knew as a customer, had come into her shop around 9 p.m. on the Thursday night. He was breathing heavily and seemed to have a large amount of money, which she thought was odd, knowing that he was currently unemployed.

Mattan lodged with Ernest Harrison in Davis Street and had told Mr. Harrison how a single attacker could have cut Lily’s throat having grabbed her hair from behind with one hand, pulling it back and cutting her with a knife in the other hand.

Mattan was duly arrested and when his shoes were examined 87 tiny blood spots were found on the right shoe and a further 18 on the left shoe. However Mattan had bought these shoes secondhand and had only had them for a couple of weeks.

He came to trial at Swansea before Mr. Justice Ormerod on the 22nd to the 24th of July 1952. Four witnesses testified that Mattan carried a knife or razor on a number of occasions over a period of weeks or months prior to the murder. The police investigation of the murder scene had not revealed any fingerprints, palm prints or shoe prints, that might have linked Mattan to the crime. Nor did they find any “wad” of money.

The defense was one of alibi. Mattan stated that he had not been in Lily’s shop, or Bute Street on the day of the murder. He said he had left a cinema at 7.30pm and gone home. He flatly denied the witness testimony against him. Unfortunately he was a very unimpressive witness. The jury deliberated for 95 minutes before returning a guilty verdict.

Mattan appealed his conviction (there could be no appeal against the death sentence) but this was dismissed.

On the 8th of September 1952 he was hanged Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Robert Leslie Stewart, the last man to be hanged here.

In May 1969 (17 years later) Cover, was convicted of the attempted murder of his daughter, by cutting her throat with a razor. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Mattan’s case was referred to the Home Secretary. It has been suggested that Cover might himself have murdered Miss Volpert. In 1970, the Home Secretary wrote to the family, declining to re-open the case.

In 1996, Mattan’s family made representations to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The Commission concluded that there was sufficient evidence to question the safety of the conviction, and accordingly referred the matter to the Court of Appeal. Of particular concern was the evidence of Mr. Cover and Mrs. Gray, together with information that was not disclosed to the defence at the trial (disclosure was not a legal requirement in 1952). 12 year old Mary Sullivan had taken part in an identity parade and was only shown Mattan. Not surprisingly she picked him out.

Also in 1996, Mahmood Mattan's remains were exhumed from Cardiff Prison and re-buried in a Cardiff Cemetery.

On the 24th of February 1998, the Court of Appeal in London, quashed Mahmood Mattan's conviction. Lord Justice Rose (Vice-President of the Court of Appeal) sitting with Lord Justice Rose were Mr. Justice Holland and Mr. Justice Penry-Davey said that the case against Mahmood Mattan was "demonstrably flawed". He went on to say that Mahmood Mattan's death and the length of time taken to dismiss the conviction were matters of profound regret.

On the 14th of May, 2001, Mattan’s family were awarded compensation thought to be several hundred thousand pounds.

It is possible that the actual murderer was another Somali labourer, but this cannot be proven.

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