Since 1970 the Police Federation has supported the reintroduction of capital punishment for the murder of a police officer, despite there being no realistic possibility of its return, even during periods when there has been large Tory majorities in Parliament.1
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References
1.
The closest vote was in July 1983 when the motion for the death penalty for police and prison officer murderers was defeated by 81 votes. On the same motion in February 1994 the defeat was 147.
2.
Here “murder” is used widely to mean verdicts of murder and manslaughter at both a trial and coroner's inquest.
3.
The percentage executed (58.33 per cent) was slightly higher than overall figures for the period 1900 to 1965, which was 50.31 per cent.
4.
Thomas was released from his life sentence in 1962. It is now highly unlikely that any police murderer would serve less than 20 years.
5.
The new Home Secretary Frank Soskice “privately” told the press that no Labour Government would ever let a murderer hang again.
6.
The case was widely reported as “The Case of the Hooded Man”.
7.
The last 17-year-old executed was Charles Dobell in 1889.
8.
The doctrine, also called the “felony-murder” rule, implied malice aforethought for murder in cases of unlawful killing during rape, robbery and the killing of a police or prison officer. It was abolished by the Homicide Act in 1957.
9.
The one released had served 25 years. One other man, who had served 20 years, was released but within a year had been recalled to his life sentence.
10.
In 1964, 44 persons were convicted of murder; in 1994 the figure was 192. However, the total number of “murders” was 677; in 1965 it was 266; therefore the conviction rate for murder, as a percentage of the total unlawful killings, has almost doubled.
