the death penalty

[emma92]

can anyone tell me when the death penalty was introduced in the united kingdom. im doing a talk at schol on Capital Punishment and i really need to know this date . thanks

[kempie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishmen t_in_the_United_Kingdom

[Grunty]

Not really relevant to the question, but the story of John Lee, which is mentioned by Wikipedia, is an interesting one. The hangman insisted that he had tested the trap between each hanging attempt, and it had worked properly. Many years ago I was told that the trap was tested with a bag of potatoes. Apparently the problem was caused by a parson standing on the scaffold. The potatoes were alone and therefore the problem did not arise.