With special thanks to Monty Dart for her help with this article.
Nineteen 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 1920s, with the condemned cell and gallows in close proximity, as became standard practice throughout the UK, adhering to the evolution of the long drop in the 20th century as recorded in our historical survey of execution sites from the late 18th century to abolition in 1964.
Today, HMP Cardiff remains in active operation as a Category B men’s local prison serving courts across South Wales.
20th-Century Executions at Cardiff (All for Murder)
A total of 20 people (19 men and one woman) were executed within the walls of Cardiff Gaol between 1900 and 1952:
| Condemned Name | Execution Date | Executioner / Assistant | Crime and Case Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Augustus Lacey | 21/08/1900 | James Billington & William Billington | Murder of wife Pauline at Pontypridd |
| Eric Lange | 21/12/1904 | William Billington & John Ellis | Pentre hotel robbery-murder of John Emlyn Jones |
| Rhoda Willis (Leslie James) | 14/08/1907 | Henry Pierrepoint & Thomas Pierrepoint | Baby-farming suffocation murder of infant |
| George Stills | 13/12/1907 | Henry Pierrepoint & Thomas Pierrepoint | Matricide of Rachel Hannah Stills at Pontycymmer |
| Noah Percy Collins | 30/12/1908 | Henry Pierrepoint & John Ellis | Abertridwr murder of Anita Dorothy Lawrence |
| Hugh McLaren | 14/08/1913 | John Ellis & William Willis | Murder |
| Edgar Bindon | 25/03/1914 | John Ellis & George Brown | Murder |
| Alec Bakerlis | 10/04/1917 | John Ellis & Edward Taylor | Murder |
| Thomas Caler | 14/04/1920 | John Ellis & William Willis | Murder |
| Lester Hamilton | 16/08/1921 | John Ellis & Seth Mills | Murder |
| George Thomas | 09/03/1926 | Robert Baxter & Thomas Phillips | Murder |
| Edward Rowlands | 27/01/1928 | Robert Baxter, Lionel Mann, Thomas Phillips & Robert Wilson | Double hanging: gang murder of David Hughes |
| Daniel Driscoll | 27/01/1928 | Robert Baxter, Lionel Mann, Thomas Phillips & Robert Wilson | Double hanging: gang murder of David Hughes |
| William Corbett | 12/08/1931 | Robert Baxter & Henry Pollard | Murder |
| George Roberts | 08/08/1940 | Thomas Pierrepoint & Stanley Cross | Murder |
| Howard Grossley | 05/09/1945 | Thomas Pierrepoint & Steve Wade | Murder |
| Evan Hadyn Evans | 03/02/1948 | Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Kirk | Murder |
| Clifford Wills | 09/12/1948 | Steve Wade & Harry Critchell | Murder |
| Ajit Singh | 07/05/1952 | Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Allen | Murder |
| Mahmood Mattan | 03/09/1952 | Albert Pierrepoint & Robert Leslie Stewart | Wrongful execution: murder of Lily Volpert |
Notable Capital Cases and Executions
William Augustus Lacey (21/08/1900)
Twenty-nine-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 magistrates’ 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, and 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: that Lacey was totally innocent and that Pauline had committed suicide because she believed that Lacey was having sex with her sister, and that his previous statements were made because he was excited and confused.
Unsurprisingly, the jury saw through this pack of lies and convicted him of murder.
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 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 lookout for a man with bloodstained clothes and without a cap or shoes.
Constable David Woods took up position on Rhondda Road overlooking the railway line, and his hunch proved correct at about 4:30 a.m. when a man fitting the description came into view.
Woods arrested this man, who gave his name as Eric Lange, a 30-year-old Russian seaman from Riga (who 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 an accomplice 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 feet 9 inches according to one of the newspaper reporters present, just a little more than his height.
Some 500 to 600 people had gathered outside the prison to see the notices of execution posted.
Rhoda Willis (Leslie James): The Last Woman Hanged in Wales (14/08/1907)
Rhoda Willis, who operated under the alias Leslie James, was the last woman to be hanged for baby farming in the United Kingdom, and the last woman executed in Wales.
She was convicted of suffocating an infant placed in her care for adoption in exchange for money.
She was executed on the 14th of August 1907 by brothers Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint.
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 his brother John lived at 7 Bridgend Road, Pontycymmer.
George (aged 30) had battered and kicked his mother, 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 assaults.
Stills came to trial at Cardiff on the 21st of November 1907 before Mr. Justice Sutton, prosecuted by J. Lloyd Morgan and A. C. Lawrence, with the defence led by B. Francis Williams.
The only defence offered was one of intoxication; a witness testified that George was drunk when he left the pub that lunchtime.
The jury was 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 a.m. on Friday the 13th of December 1907 by Henry Pierrepoint, assisted by his brother Thomas Pierrepoint.
An estimated 200 people gathered outside the prison to see the execution notices 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 to 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 was held at 10:00 a.m. by city coroner Mr. W. L. Yorath in the prison infirmary.
Thomas Andrew Flynn, deputy Under-Sheriff, gave evidence of the conviction and death sentence, which had been carried out in the presence of the chaplain, governor, and 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 unmarked grave within the prison grounds.
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 20.
Anita was an attractive girl and the daughter of his landlady, to whom Collins had been paying attention, but who had been unresponsive to his advances.
The executioners were brothers Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint.
There was no element of mystery about the tragic affair: 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 medical evidence disposed of that suggestion entirely.
Noah Patrick Collins was condemned to death after a one-day trial at the Glamorgan Assizes by Mr. Justice Bucknill on December 11th, 1908, for the murder of Anita Dorothy Lawrence on the 17th of August 1907.
The deceased girl lived at home with her mother, her father being at sea, while her mother took in lodgers, of whom Collins was one.
He occupied a bedroom with another lodger named Donovan and a brother of the victim.
On the morning of the tragedy, Collins cut Anita’s throat because she refused to kiss him.
Edward Rowlands and Daniel Driscoll: The Double Hanging of 1928
On the 27th of January 1928, Edward Rowlands and Daniel Driscoll were hanged side by side on a double gallows by Robert Baxter, Lionel Mann, Thomas Phillips, and Robert Wilson.
Both men were convicted of the murder of David Hughes, an innocent bystander killed during a violent gang ambush in the docks area of Cardiff.
Driscoll protested his innocence to the end, and the case prompted widespread concern regarding miscarriages of justice and the application of common purpose in capital trials.
Mahmood Mattan: The Posthumous Exoneration (1952)
The final execution carried out at Cardiff Gaol took place on Wednesday, the 3rd of September 1952, when 28-year-old British Somali merchant seaman Mahmood Hussein Mattan was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Robert Leslie Stewart.
Mattan was convicted of the brutal murder of 41-year-old shopkeeper and moneylender Lily Volpert in her haberdashery store in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay on the 6th of March 1952.
The case against Mattan relied on tainted identification evidence from a prosecution witness who had changed his testimony, while exculpatory evidence was withheld from the defence.
Mattan spoke limited English, denied all involvement in the crime, and walked to the scaffold maintaining his innocence.
In 1998, the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred his case to the Court of Appeal.
On the 5th of March 2002, the Court of Appeal officially quashed Mattan’s conviction, ruling it fundamentally unsafe and making him the first person executed in Britain whose conviction was formally overturned.
His remains were exhumed from the prison grounds and reburied in consecrated ground at Western Cemetery in Ely, Cardiff.
Capital punishment in Wales was abolished along with the rest of Great Britain following the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, completing the abolition of capital punishment in Britain.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Cardiff Gaol built?
Cardiff Gaol was constructed between 1827 and 1832 at Adamsdown in Crockherbtown as the County Gaol for Glamorganshire, originally accommodating 80 criminals and 20 debtors.
How many executions took place at Cardiff Gaol?
A total of 25 executions were carried out at Cardiff Gaol: three public hangings (1832–1857), two private hangings in the 19th century, and 20 private hangings in the 20th century (19 men and one woman).
Who was the last woman executed in Wales?
Rhoda Willis (alias Leslie James) was the last woman executed in Wales, hanged at Cardiff Gaol on August 14, 1907, by Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint for the suffocation murder of an adopted infant.
Who was Mahmood Mattan?
Mahmood Mattan was a Somali merchant seaman executed at Cardiff Gaol on September 3, 1952, for the murder of moneylender Lily Volpert. His conviction was officially quashed as a miscarriage of justice by the Court of Appeal in 2002, making him the first executed person in the UK to receive a posthumous exoneration.
What happened to the execution suite at Cardiff Gaol?
Capital executions at Cardiff Gaol were initially conducted in a freestanding brick execution shed near the main gate. In the 1920s, a standard internal execution suite was created next to the condemned cell, which remained in place until capital punishment was abolished.
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