There were only seven hangings in 1936. The one case that really made the headlines that year was that of Dr. Buck Ruxton—one of the first instances of new forensic techniques playing a major role in securing a murder conviction in Britain. Background Buck Ruxton was born Bukhtyar Rustomji Rantanji Hakim in Bombay, India, on … Read more
At 2.15 am. on Thursday, the 29th of February 1940, a break in took place at a shop in Wesley Road, Coxhoe, County Durham. Two young men, 24 year old Vincent Ostler and 27 year old William Appleby, had broken through a roof skylight into the Co-op store there in the early hours of the morning. A passing … Read more
At 9.00 am on Thursday the 10th of September 1942 two young thugs dropped through the trap doors of Pentonville prison’s gallows. Both had prior criminal records and had served time in Borstal. The crime for which they hanged was the robbery murder of Leonard Moules. 71 year old Mr. Moules was a pawnbroker who ran a … Read more
Background. James McNicol was hanged in December 1945 in what must have appeared at the time, especially to the authorities, to be an “open and shut” case. Nobody including James disputed the basic facts of the killing and at no time did he try to deny responsibility for his actions. Like so many cases it … Read more
21-year-old Duncan Alexander Croall Scott-Ford became the youngest person to be executed under the Treachery Act 1940, when he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on the morning of Tuesday, 3 November 1942. Early Naval Career At age 16, Scott-Ford joined the Royal Navy and served until 1941, when he was court-martialed and sentenced to two … Read more
