H.M. Prison Norwich.

Norwich Castle had been the main prison for the County of Norfolk and the last execution there took place on the 13th of December 1886, when George Harmer was hanged for the murder of Henry Last.

The Prison Act of 1877 brought prisons under the control of the Home Office and led to the closure of a number of prisons that were no longer considered “fit for purpose” to use the modern expression.

The new county prison had been constructed on Knox Road, Norwich to the design of the surveyor to the Prison Department and built by Messrs W and T Denne, of Walmer, Kent during 1886 and early 1887. It opened on the 16th of July 1887 and prisoners were transferred to it from the Castle on the 2nd of August. At this time the prison was also referred to as Mousehold Prison, as it was built upon Mousehold Heath.

Local lore records that on the day when the men were marched in chains from the Castle to the new prison, officials went door to door beforehand to warn residents to stay indoors with their doors and windows locked. The women were transferred in wagons.

As built it had accommodation for male and female prisoners. The new prison comprised one long building with three floors of cells, the upper floors being reached by stairs leading to galleries, so that complete supervision by just three warders was possible.

The female inmates were transferred to Holloway prison in December 1924 and the space created used to house male prisoners transferred from Ipswich prison the following year. Ipswich prison was then closed. Here is a modern photograph of the prison marked up to show the general layout.

The original gallows was set up in the coach house, where the prison van was housed, and the beam was wide enough to accommodate two prisoners, side by side. In the event the first two men who were sentenced to die at the new prison were both reprieved and it would be nearly a decade before this gallows was actually used. The location of the coach house is no longer known. It is probable that the first four executions were carried out here.

In the 1920’s the Prison Commission had purpose built condemned suites constructed in those prisons that were to continue to have executions. As Ipswich prison had closed Norwich would be the hanging prison for both Norfolk and Suffolk. It is likely that Herbert Bloye was the first to be hanged in the new facility, the contemporary newspapers reporting that his execution took just 30 seconds.

The later execution room adjoined what used to be the women’s wing, and local lore suggests that the condemned cell was in what used to be the women’s infirmary. It is probable that the condemned cell opened into a short corridor that ran between the Governor’s Building and the Women’s Wing (it was also used for women to enter a sequestered corner of the Chapel). The distance between this bricked up door, and the bricked up entrance to the execution room, in a different coloured brick, is about 6 feet. The execution room is on a level with the condemned cell, and there would have been a small flight of steps up to the scaffold which the condemned man would have been obliged to climb. It is likely that there was also a pit, but all evidence of this has long been obliterated. The places where the scaffold and beam were secured to the walls can be clearly seen. An electricity sub-station was later installed in the gallows room.

Executions at Norwich.

12 men were hanged here between July 1898 and July 1951, in ten individual executions and one double.

James Watt - “The Sprowston Murder”.

James (also given as George) Watt shot and killed his wife Sophia Watt (nee Marston) on the 14th of April 1898. He had called on her at Denmark Terrace, Sprowston Road, Norwich and she told him that she was expecting another man. This enraged Watt, who having a pistol in his pocket, shot her.

44 year old Watt was tried at the Norfolk Assizes which opened on Friday the 17th of June 1898 before Sir Henry Hawkins. The evidence against him was overwhelming and the jury convicted him of wilful murder. It would appear that Watt had systematically verbally and physically abused Sophia throughout the 22 years of their marriage.

In the condemned cell Watt was reportedly very penitent and confessed his crime to the prison chaplain, the Rev. S. W. Cox. He also complained that some of the evidence against him was exaggerated and that he would not have committed the crime if he had been in his “right mind”.

Having been pinioned, Watt walked unaided to the gallows in a procession headed by the chaplain. At 9.00 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday the 12th of July 1898 Watt was hanged by James Billington, assisted by his son, Thomas. Death was reportedly “instantaneous”. At this time the prison bell was still tolled and the black flag raised to show that the execution had been carried out.

An inquest was held by the Coroner, Mr. R. W. Ladwell, at 10.30 that morning. Watt was buried in the prison grounds later that day in an eight foot deep grave.

Herbert Bennett - possibly innocent.

In 1896 19 year old Mary Jane Clarke met 16 year old Herbert Bennett and despite their family’s objections they soon married. They seemed to both engage in shady/criminal activities involving various frauds. By 1900 they were living apart. Mary had moved to rented accommodation at 1 Glencoe Villas in Bexley Heath in Kent with their three year old daughter, Ruby. Bennett was living near his work at Woolwich Arsenal. In an attempt to patch up the relationship, he offered to take Mary and their daughter on holiday to Great Yarmouth. Mary and her child booked into the boarding house run by a Mrs. Rudrum in Row 104 between South Quay and Middlegate, on the 15th of September 1900, oddly using the name Mrs. Hood.

Each evening Mary went out and left Ruby with Mrs. Rudrum until Saturday the 22nd of September when she did not return and Mrs. Rudrum reported her missing.

The following morning 14 year old John Norton stumbled across a corpse as he was going for an early morning swim. There was a mohair bootlace knotted tightly around the young woman’s neck. Mrs. Rudrum was able to identify the victim and a search was made of Mary’s belongings. They revealed a return train ticket to London and a laundry mark that could be traced to a laundry in Bexley Heath. The laundry manager was able to provide the real name of the deceased as Mary Bennett. Mrs. Rudrum remembered that Mary had received a letter bearing a Woolwich postmark. A photograph was found that had been taken by a beach photographer showing a watch and chain on Mary that had gone missing.

This was found in Bennett’s possession when he was arrested seven weeks later. He denied ever having been in Yarmouth which could be shown to be a lie, as staff at the Crown and Anchor where he was staying identified him and told police that he had only got back to the hotel a few minutes before midnight on the Saturday night of the murder. Items of jewellery belonging to Mary were missing and these had been given by Bennett to his new fiancée, 21-year-old parlour maid Alice Meadows, to whom he had passed himself off as a bachelor.

The case produced a huge amount of public interest and Bennett’s defence lawyers successfully got the case moved from Norwich to London. He thus came to trial at the Old Bailey on the 25th of February to the 2nd of March 1901, before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Alverstone. The prosecution alleged that Bennett took Mary and Ruby to Yarmouth so as to be able to rid himself of Mary, and thus be able to marry Alice. The picture of watch and chain was one of the first instances of the use of photographic evidence at a trial.

For the defence, Edward Marshall Hall produced Woolwich Arsenal shift records that showed Bennett was actually at work there 120 miles away when his wife was murdered. A witness claimed he spoke to Bennett in London on the evening of the murder after the last train to Yarmouth had departed. It was also alleged that Mary Bennett had been seen kissing a man near her lodgings on the eve of her murder. Ultimately the jury preferred the prosecution’s case and convicted Bennett.

Bennett was transferred back to Norwich to await execution. This was carried on the morning of Thursday the 21st of March 1902 by James and Thomas Billington. It was reported that Bennett struggled and twitched for two minutes after the trap doors opened. The flag pole up which the black flag was run to signify the execution had taken place, snapped. This was seen by some as an omen that an innocent man had been executed. A view that would be further reinforced in July 1912 when the body of 18 year old Dora May Green was discovered in a location near where Mary’s body had been found. She had also been strangled with a bootlace. Her killer was never caught.

Postscript:
Herbert Bennett’s case was re-examined last year by an Appeal Court judge, as part of a BBC series which considered capital murder cases of the last century in light of modern forensic science. All but one piece of evidence was upheld, and the evidence which did not stand up to modern scrutiny was deemed insufficient to render the conviction unsafe.

James Nicholls - “The Feltwell Murder”.

35 year old James Nicholls was convicted at the Norfolk Assizes at Norwich on the 27th of October 1908, of the murder of 70 year old Susan Wilson in her home at Ploughman's Drove, Feltwell Fen in Norfolk. The motive for the killing was rape. It took the jury just 20 minutes to reach their verdict. It would appear the Nicholls was on bail at the time of the murder.

Mr. Justice Grantham then addressed Nicholls as follows: “James Nichols, the jury have unanimously arrived at the only verdict which was possible for them to come to. I am quite sure that every one who has heard the evidence in this case has no doubt but that the case is absolutely clear and has been brought home to you. It will be a terrible end for you, but looking at your past career, it is only the end that was likely to result for a man who has lived the life you have. I find that in 1896 you were found guilty of unlawful wounding, in 1897, you were found guilty of rape, in 1901 I find you were guilty of attempted rape and beside that you have been convicted 22 times for game trespass and kindred offences. But even that is not all. If it had not been that it was necessary for the Jury to try you on this painful case, you would have been charged before them or another Jury for rape committed last June, with reference to which the evidence was just as clear as we have listened to today. As I have said before, we Judges particularly are most anxious to always let out prisoners on bail, when they have some time to wait for trial, especially in all cases where the character is not bad or where there is no probability of the prisoner making off. We always think that Magistrates would exercise a little discretion in letting prisoners out on bail. We have to thank the Magistrates in this case for letting a man out on bail with such a character and you have to thank them for being at the present time sentenced to death. If you had not been kept in prison, as you ought to have been, you could not have committed this crime. Looking at your past kindly, however, I think the evil day was only postponed. You have lived an unruly life and you have been a terror to the neighbourhood and you are now meeting your just deserts. I have only to pass the sentence of death.”

The killing took place on Sunday the 11th of October 1908. Susan Wilson’s husband, Charles, was a travelling umbrella salesman who had been away from the village for four days. He was returning home on this Sunday afternoon and arrived around 4 pm. He discovered Susan’s body. She had been battered to death with an axe.

Earlier that afternoon a 14 year old boy, named Banham, had seen a man with a dog in the vicinity of the Wilson’s home. He recognised the man as Nicholls from his clothing. He saw the man go into the Wilson’s house and then drag Susan out, crying for help. He pulled her back into the house and then left. A Mr. Southgate had also seen Nicholls at about 2.20 pm. and was able to clearly identify him. Nicholls was arrested in a local pub later that afternoon. Given the witness testimony putting him in proximity to the Wilson’s house he admitted that he had walked past it but had heard sounds which he now took to have been Charles Wilson murdering his wife. Once again blood spatter evidence told a different story.

The defence made much of the principal prosecution witness being just 14 years old and observing the scene from a distance of 700 yards.

Nicholls appealed his conviction before Justices Channell, Phillimore and Walton on the 13th of November which was denied but delayed his execution by two weeks. He was hanged at Norwich at 8.00 a.m. on Wednesday the 2nd of December 1908, by Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint. While no actual details of the hanging survive, it was reported that the execution was carried out “expeditiously” - the Home Office approved expression.

Robert Galloway - a jealousy murder.

Walsoken is a village straddling the border of the counties of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, some 56 miles west of Norwich and it was here during the summer of 1912 that a murder took place during the fruit harvesting season. The victim was 21 year old Minnie Morris who had come up from London to get employment as a fruit picker. She was seeing another Londoner and fellow fruit picker, William Tucker. She was also seeing a local seaman, 27 year old Robert Galloway and this would have fatal consequences.

On Tuesday the 16th of July 1912,Minnie and William were having a drink in the Black Bear pub when Galloway came in and asked Minnie to go with him. They left around 2.00 p.m. She refused and he threatened both of them with violence. A little later they were seen in Burrett Road by Bertie Ash, as he cycled past. The man appeared to be on top of the woman. It was unclear to Ash what was going on, whether they were having sex, or whether it was something else. But either way he didn’t feel that he had the right to intervene. A quarter of an hour later Ash returned and saw just the woman lying on the verge, with a cap over her face. He supposed she was sleeping and continued his journey home. It may well be that he witnessed Minnie being murdered.

Galloway had left the scene, going first to The Bell pub and then to the Black Bear. Here he handed a strange note to one Francis Pilmby and another to Thomas Peake. He then walked to Wisbech where he gave himself up to Police Sgt. Jacobs, admitting to having strangled Minnie with a handkerchief and providing a detailed account of the crime. His motive was jealousy.

Galloway was tried at Norwich on the 19th of October 1912, before Mr. Justice Darling. He claimed to have been drunk at the time and had no recollection of the murder. This was obvious nonsense, given his statement to the police on the afternoon of the crime. The jury took just five minutes to convict him.

There was no appeal and Galloway was hanged at Norwich on Tuesday the 5th of November by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by George Brown. He reportedly walked firmly to the gallows.

Herbert Bloye - for the murders of his wife and mother in law.

27 year old labourer Herbert George Bloye (also known as Whiteman in Swaffham) had separated from his wife, Alice in May 1925. Alice had taken their two young children and gone to live with her parents, William and Clara Squires, who both farm workers at Town Farm at Swaffam in Norfolk.

On Monday the 15th of June 1925 Alice took the children to the field in which her father was working to bring him his lunch. A little later, around 1 p.m. William heard a scream and found the bodies of his daughter and his wife, both of whom had been battered to death with a heavy spanner. He also saw Bloye running off. At 1.30 p.m. Bloye met his brother, Thomas, and said to him “Kiss me goodbye. I have killed Mrs. Squires and my wife.” He then went to his mother’s house where he hid the spanner and waited for the police to arrive.

He made a statement to the effect that he had written Alice a letter to which she had not replied. So he confronted her in the field and asked her to return to him. She absolutely refused to do so he hit twice on the head. Bloye then went to where Clara was working and told her to go and help Alice. He suggested that Clara tried to attack him with a pitchfork so he hit her with the spanner in self defence.

Bloye was tried at Norwich before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Hewart, on the 19th of October 1925. It was noted at the trial that he had suffered from fits while on remand but this did not prevent him from being convicted.

He was hanged at Norwich prison on Thursday the 12th of November 1925 by Robert Baxter and Edward Taylor. It was reported that Bloye walked calmly to the gallows and that the execution took just half a minute. Bloye weighed 147 lbs and was given a drop of 7’ 8”. The LPC4 form gives his surname as Bloye and noted that “the neck was very much more muscular than usual in a man of Bloye’s weight.”

Walter Smith - for an unknown motive.

33 year old Walter Smith was the mate on board a barge named “The East Anglia” skippered by his friend, 28 year old Albert Edward Baker.

On Friday the 22nd of October 1937 the barge was moored in Felixstowe Docks for the unloading of a cargo of barley. That afternoon Smith left the barge’s hatches open and went into town for a drinking spree. Other sailors noticed that the hatches were open and tried to raise someone on “The East Anglia” to close them. Getting no reply two sailors went aboard the barge where they discovered the body of Albert Baker. The police were called and an examination revealed that Mr. Baker had been shot three times, once in the head and twice in the heart.

Smith was questioned and later arrested. He claimed to have been drunk at the time and have no recollection of the crime, nor the ability to form the intent to kill. When he was arrested the police stated that Mr. Baker was dead but did not say how he had died. Smith is said to have asked them “You say that the old man has been shot dead?” Smith was examined by Dr. Dickson at Norwich prison who accepted that he was suffering from memory loss due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed, but must have murdered Mr. Baker before he went drinking.

Smith was tried at Ipswich before Mr. Justice Singleton on the 20th to the 22nd of January 1938. The same defence was put forward in an attempt to get the charge reduced to manslaughter but this was unsuccessful. Smith’s appeal, on the basis of insanity was dismissed on Monday the 20th of February 1938 and a new execution date of the 8th of March set.

He was duly hanged at Norwich by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Thomas Phillips on Tuesday the 8th of March 1938. By this time Ipswich prison had been closed.

Arthur Heys - a rapist and murderer.

37 year old Heys was executed for the rape and murder of 27 year old WAAF radio operator, Winifred Mary Evans at Ellough near Beccles in Suffolk in the early hours of Thursday the 9th of November 1945.

Winfred had been to a dance with WAAF Corporal Margaret Johns and they returned to base just before midnight, parting company a few minutes later. Corporal Johns went to use the women’s toilets and discovered a man in RAF uniform who was apparently drunk and lost. She pointed him in the direction of Camp No. 1 where he said he wanted to return to.

Winifred’s body was found the next morning face down in a ditch near the Ellough Road junction. She had been raped and had suffocated in the mud at the bottom of the ditch.

Beccles police called in Scotland Yard detectives who interviewed the men in Camp No. 1 and it soon came to light that Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Heys had come in after 1 a.m. on that morning and had stayed up cleaning his uniform. He admitted that he had met Corporal Johns but denied any involvement with Winifred.

Hair samples were recovered at the crime scene and these matched samples found on Heys’ uniform. However they also matched Heys’ wife. He might have got away with the crime on the basis of reasonable doubt, had he not done something very stupid. Whilst on remand he wrote an anonymous letter to the Commanding Officer of Camp No. 1 claiming that Heys was innocent and that the writer was the real killer. However he included details of the crime that were only known to the police and himself.

Heys was tried at Bury St. Edmunds before Mr. Justice Mac Naghten on the 22nd to the 24th of January 1945. When asked why sentence of death should not be passed to him, Heys replied: "God knows I am innocent of this foul crime."

On Tuesday the 13th of March 1945 was hanged at Norwich prison by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by Steve Wade.

Stanley Joseph Clark - a spurned suitor.

In April 1948, the House of Commons voted in favour of a Bill introduced by Sidney Silverman to suspend the death penalty for five years. The Labour Home Secretary, Lord James Chuter-Ede, announced that he would reprieve all murderers until the future of the Bill was resolved. This resulted in 26 reprieves and no executions between March and October 1948 when the bill was vetoed by the House of Lords.

The first hanging after resumption was that of 34 year old Stanley Joseph Clark on Thursday the 18th of November 1948. His occupation was given as a pig dealer living at Apsley Road, Gt. Yarmouth.

Clark had stabbed his girlfriend, Florence May Bentley, to death after she refused to marry him. The murder took place at the guest house at 1 Camperdown in Yarmouth in Norfolk, where Florence worked as a chambermaid, on Wednesday the 16th of June 1948. The guest house was owned by Clark’s sister, Miriam Prior and Miriam would witness the killing. Florence had three stab wounds, one to the back of the head and two to the chest, both of which had pierced her lungs.

After the killing Clark phoned the police from a call box and waited for them to come for him.

The trial at Norwich on the 20th of October before Mr. Justice Cassells lasted just four minutes as Clark pleaded guilty. In the condemned cell he was confirmed by the Bishop of Norwich. He was hanged at Norwich prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Harry Kirk.

The strange case of James Frank Rivett.

21 year old Rivett lived in Beccles in Suffolk and was going out with 17 year old Christine Ruth Cuddon. Somewhere between 8.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the night of Saturday the 5th of November 1949, he strangled Christine in the bike shed of the Sir John Leman school in Beccles, having previously had sex with her.

Rivett returned home after the murder and collected a shotgun, before going to a friend’s house where he confessed to the murder. Apparently he had intended to shoot himself but couldn’t go through with it. The friend persuaded Rivett to go the police where he repeated the confession and once Christine’s body had been located, was charged with her murder.

Apparently his motive was that Christine’s father had wanted her to end the relationship.

On January the 20th 1950 Rivett was put on trial at Ipswich to determine whether he was sane enough to plead to his charge. The jury determined that he was and so the murder trial was scheduled for the 27th of January at Norwich. His defence team tried again to get a verdict that Rivett was unfit to plead due to schizophrenia and this was permitted. Two doctors certified him as suffering from schizophrenia. However the jury found him sane, so the murder trial was able to start.

Rivett pleaded guilty, but Mr. Justice Stable entered a plea of not guilty and ordered the evidence to be heard, leading to his conviction later on that day.

At his appeal, Lord Goddard said "That unless and until Parliament ordains that schizophrenia, which was pleaded at the trial, is to be determined by a panel of medical men, it is to a jury that the decision is to be entrusted".

Rivett was hanged at Norwich prison by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Allen, on Wednesday the 8th of March 1950. He weighed 141 lbs. and was given a drop of 7 feet 10 inches, resulting in fracture/dislocation of the 1st and 2nd cervical vertebrae.

Norman Goldthorpe - a botched hanging.

40 year old Norman Goldthorpe was a married man whose wife, Lily, had left him for another man. They divorced in 1947 when he found out that she had been having an affair while he was serving abroad in the army.
Goldthorpe also had a mistress, a Mrs. Myers, who had left him three days before the murder to return to her husband. On the evening of Friday the 11th of August 1950 he had been drinking before he sought out a prostitute he knew, 66 year old Emma Elizabeth Howe. Emma was often in The Great Eastern pub in Yarmouth so Goldthorpe went there to find her. She had been in earlier but had gone home to her one bedroom residence at No. 2 Owls Court. Goldthorpe went to Owls Court but initially knocked on the wrong door. The occupant directed him to Emma’s door.

As he left her flat he was spotted by another neighbour. Emma’s body was discovered the following day. She had been strangled, had a wound to the throat, caused by a broach that she had been wearing and her clothes had been pulled up, exposing her lower body. There were faeces on the bed and on her body as a result of the sphincter muscle of the anus relaxing in strangulation. Goldthorpe was immediately the prime suspect and he was arrested on Sunday the 13th and interviewed by Detective Sergeant Walter Painter. After an initial interview Goldthorpe was allowed to rest and Painter returned to Owls Court where he found a hair comb with the name Norman Goldthorpe on it. He was then charged with the murder.

He was remanded to Norwich prison on the 14th of August and later transferred to the hospital wing of Brixton prison in London where he was observed and interviewed by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Matheson. Whilst Goldthorpe was at Brixton an electro-encephalograph examination was made at the Maudsley Hospital which produced normal results. He was returned to Norwich prison on the 2nd of November, seven days before the trial commenced.

In an alleged statement Goldthorpe said: “I was full of jealousy because the woman I was staying with had gone away for a short time. I was in love with this woman, and rather than take her life I took the other woman's.” It seems that he had urges to injure women from time to time and had admitted as much in interviews with the Chief Medical Officer while on remand. In respect of the murder he claimed to have been repulsed by the thought of intercourse with an old woman and the impulse came over him to kill her. It is not clear from the surviving records whether intercourse actually took place.

Goldthorpe came to trial before Mr. Justice Hilberry in Norwich on the 11th of October 1950. For an hour the court heard evidence on a plea of insanity but this was rejected by the jury. Both the Chief Medical Officer of Brixton, Dr. Matheson and Dr. Tracey the Medical Officer of Norwich prison gave evidence that Goldthorpe was sane at the time of the murder and fit to stand trial. The jury retired at 5.20 p.m. At 6.10 they were called back by Mr. Justice Hilbery. He said: “I understand you have been asking for cups of tea. In the old days it was the formula that a jury was left without food, fire, or drink until they agreed on their verdict. I have no intention of applying the full rigour of the law, but there are no facilities in this building for making tea.” Eight minutes later, at 6.18 the jury returned with a verdict of guilty. Perhaps this refusal of refreshment speeded up their deliberations. Goldthorpe, asked if he had anything to say before he was sentenced to death, replied: “Only that I thank my counsel and respect the prosecution. They had a rotten job.”

Goldthorpe appealed and this was dismissed on the 6th of November 1950. An execution date of the 24th of November was then set with the hanging to take place at 8.00 a.m.

On the 13th of November 1950 the Home Office ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Goldthorpe to be carried out by Sir Norwood East, Dr. Hopwood and Dr. Young on the 16th and 17th. This concluded that he was sane and not a psychopathic personality. On the 21st of November it was announced that there would be no reprieve.

As Albert Pierrepoint and Steve Wade were not available Harry Kirk was appointed as hangman with Syd Dernley as assistant. Harry Kirk had worked as an assistant to Stanley Cross, Tom and Albert Pierrepoint on 40 occasions, but had never acted as No. 1 before. He was a long serving constable in the Port of London police force.

They arrived at Norwich prison by 4.00 p.m. on Thursday the 23rd of November as required by law and were escorted to a room, which unbeknown to them was immediately above the condemned cell. Dernley had, according to his memoirs, brought a book of dirty jokes with him and he, Kirk and a warder were soon laughing loudly at the jokes. So much so that there was banging on the ceiling below.

Kirk had set a drop of 7’ 8” for Prisoner 7481, Goldthorpe who weighed 145 lbs and stood 5’ 0 1/2” tall. The trap door had been lubricated and tested satisfactorily.

At 8 a.m. on the morning of Friday the 24th of November 1950, Kirk entered the condemned cell and pinioned Goldthorpe who was then led to the gallows. There Kirk hooded him and placed the noose around his neck but did not apparently slide the rubber washer all the way down the rope till it was against the brass eyelet. He operated the drop and Goldthorpe disappeared from view.

He and Dernley were horrified to hear three deep and noisy breaths coming from the prisoner over a period of 30 seconds or so. Looking down into the drop room revealed that Goldthorpe was hanging still.

The section of the LPC4 form completed by the prison surgeon, Basil M. Tracey, noted that there had been fracture/dislocation of the 1st and 2nd cervical vertebrae, but this was antero-posterior (front to back) rather than transverse and was not as complete as usual. He also recorded that death had been by asphyxia and noted that there was a 2 1/2” long cut beneath Goldthorpe’s chin where the eyelet had ended up. Neither Dr. Tracey or the governor were satisfied with the execution and wrote a report to the Prison Commissioners about it.

When the body was taken down it was found that the noose had not drawn tight and that at least four inches of the hood had become jammed in the eyelet. This had prevented the noose constricting the airway in the normal fashion. Typically the noose causes some 4 - 6 inches of constriction. It was noted that the rubber washer was very stiff and considerable effort was required to slide it along the leather covered portion of the noose.
The governor and the doctor expressed the opinion that Kirk was nervous and lacked the calmness and self assurance necessary for the job. It has also been suggested that he was in too much of a hurry. They also said that “We should both be apprehensive if he were required to carry out this duty again.”

A second report was made to the Prison Commissioners. One of its findings was that death had not been by asphyxia and that it had been in effect instantaneous. It also states that "After the execution Mr. Kirk asked if the way in which he had carried it out would prevent his being employed as executioner again."

Syd Dernley in his memoirs quoted Kirk as saying, when they said goodbye to each other, “it was a bad job”. This was Harry Kirk's first and last hanging as principal.

Alfred Reynolds and Dennis Moore - Norwich prison’s last hangings.

On Thursday the 19th of July 1951 two young men would stand side by side on the trapdoors of Norwich’s gallows. Both were to die for murdering their pregnant girlfriends.

Alfred George Reynolds was a 24 year old who had been going out with 19 year old Ellen May Ludkin for some two and a half years. In October 1950 Ellen told her parents that she was pregnant by Reynolds and that she wanted to marry him. They insisted that he get a job and find a home. He got employment but it didn’t last and on the 8th of February 1951 he called to see Ellen at around 2 p.m. They chatted and then went for a walk. Ellen’s mum, Gladys, watched them leave and saw Reynolds go into a field near her home at Park Cottages in Dereham in Norfolk and pick up a shotgun. Ellen screamed out “Alfie” as Reynolds pulled the trigger. Gladys witnessed her daughter’s death and ran for help. Reynolds gave himself up a little later.

He was tried at Norwich on the 4th of June 1951 before Mr. Justice Parker. The defence tried to argue that the killing was a failed suicide pact that Ellen had asked for when Reynolds had told her the relationship was over. Evidence was given that Reynolds was a mental defective with a mental age of only 11 or 12. None of this was enough to save him, especially as he had used a gun which indicated premeditation.

Dennis Albert Reginald Moore had been going out with 21 year old Eileen Cullen since June 1950. 22 year old Moore had also got Eileen pregnant and they were making plans to marry on the 17th of February 1951. On the 3rd of February Eileen and her sister, Evelyn, went shopping for wedding outfits and later that day Eileen went out with Moore. They first went to the doctor to see how the pregnancy was going and afterwards for a walk. Moore asked Eileen for sex and when she refused, dragged her into a cow shed in Oak Lane, Norwich where he strangled her and cut her throat. Moore left a card beside Eileen’s body on which he had written in lipstick “I love her. Good bye.” The large breadknife used to slit her throat was also present.

Moore was tried before Mr. Justice Parker on the 31st of May and the 1st of June 1951. The prosecution was led by John Flowers Q.C. and the defence was in the hands of a Mr. Alpe and Michael Havers. Evidence was given of Moore’s temper and his tendency to go into a kind of rage blackout. Irene Grace Hambling, his previous girlfriend told the court that he had tried to strangle her but that he had no memory of doing so afterwards. Robert Rickers who had done his National Service with Moore gave similar testimony regarding the apparent attempted strangulation of another National Serviceman that he had to intervene to stop. The breadknife was an important issue. The prosecution maintained that Moore had taken it from his father, Albert’s, fruit stall when he and Eileen had visited it earlier that afternoon. If this was the case it proved premeditation. The defence argued that Moore had returned home and collected the breadknife. Victor Sewell, Moore’s brother in law testified that it had not come from the stall and Albert Moore testified that it was in their home that night. His wife, Bessie, testified that she had used in the preparation of that night’s dinner. The jury were not impressed by the defence case and returned a guilty verdict.

Given the length of time between sentence and execution, it would seem that there was an appeal and that it was dismissed.

Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Syd Dernley and Robert Leslie Stewart, carried out the double hanging. The LPC4 form for Reynolds has been preserved and notes his weight as 170 lbs. and the drop given as 6’ 7”. Unfortunately the LPC4 form for Moore is missing.

Norwich prison remains operational and has capacity for 769 prisoners of Categories B, C and D, housed in ten wings, plus a Special Care & Segregation Unit.

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