Executioner Pierrepoint: An Autobiography

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In March 1950 Albert also hanged Timothy Evans for the murder of his daughter and suspected murder of his wife. His uncle Tom was free to select his own assistant and took Albert with him to Mountjoy Prison, in Dublin, for the hanging. John Haigh, the Acid Bath Murderer. Hanged in 1949, Haigh murdered six people for their property and pensions before dissolving their bodies in acid. His victims included Dr Archibald Henderson and his wife Rosalie, whose brother was a hotelier from Withington’s Hartley Estate.

The smiling Yorkshire pub landlord who killed over 400 people

John ‘Reg’ Christie, who murdered at least eight women, including his wife, at his flat in Notting Hill. The victims also included the wife and daughter of Timothy Evans, who also lived at the property. Before Christie was revealed to be a serial killer, Evans was convicted for killing his wife and daughter after making a false confession. Evans was sentenced to hang, and was executed by Pierrepoint in March 1950. Three years later Pierrepoint hanged Christie as well. ‘I hanged John Reginald Christie, the Monster of Rillington Place,’ he wrote, ‘in less time than it took the ash to fall off a cigar I had left half-smoked in my room at Pentonville.’ This was the answer of a young Albert Pierrepoint who made a career out of killing more than 400 people. Southport's Albert Pierrepoint Chief Executioner who executed more than 400 people before becoming a death penalty abolitionist_100 (copy) It did not deter them then, and it had not deterred them when they committed what they were convicted for. All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder.” The young Albert had grown up reading his uncle Tom’s diaries of the job, while his dad had recommended it as a sideline with opportunities for continental travel.Richardson, Robert (13 July 1992). "Obituary: Albert Pierrepoint". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 October 2010 . Retrieved 31 August 2018. is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time, and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time. If death were a deterrent, I might be expected to know. It is I who have faced them last, young lads and girls, working men, grandmothers. I have been amazed to see the courage with which they take that walk into the unknown. It did not deter them then, and it had not deterred them when they committed what they were convicted for. All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder. [78] Hodgkinson, Peter; Rutherford, Andrew (1996). Capital Punishment: Global Issues and Prospects. Winchester, Hants: Waterside Press. ISBN 978-1-872870-32-8.

Albert Pierrepoint, The British Executioner Who Killed More Albert Pierrepoint, The British Executioner Who Killed More

And while Pierrepoint would not retire from his grim business for another six years, executing Corbitt, his friend from the pub, is said to have haunted him. Henry Pierrepoint (left) and his assistant, fellow executioner (right) John Ellis, pictured on his way to Swansea jail to hang murderer Joseph Foy. Henry was the father of Albert Pierrepoint. Albert followed in the family footsteps and executed over 400 criminals in his lifetime. Picture taken 10th May 1909 Klein, Leonora (2006). A Very English Hangman: The Life and Times of Albert Pierrepoint. London: Corvo Books. ISBN 978-0-9543255-6-5.Henry was removed from the list of executioners in July 1910 after arriving drunk at a prison the day before an execution and excessively berating his assistant. [7] Henry's brother Thomas became an official executioner in 1906. [8] Pierrepoint did not find out about his father's former job until 1916, when Henry's memoirs were published in a newspaper. [9] Influenced by his father and uncle, when asked at school to write about what job he would like when older, Pierrepoint said that "When I leave school I should like to be public executioner like my dad is, because it needs a steady man with good hands like my dad and my Uncle Tom and I shall be the same". [10] [11] [a] At the execution of Ruth Ellis no untoward incident happened which in any way appalled me or anyone else, and the execution had absolutely no connection with my resignation seven months later. Nor did I leave the list, as one newspaper said, by being arbitrarily taken off it, to shut my mouth, because I was about to reveal the last words of Ruth Ellis. She never spoke. [73] Bailey, Brian (2004). "Pierrepoint, Albert, (1905–1992)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/38768. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)