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Three men had been hanged in public here and a further three in private in the 19th century.
|
Name |
Date of execution |
Executioner |
|
Panaotis Alepis & |
20/03/1858 |
William Calcraft |
|
Maneoli Selaptane |
20/03/1858 |
William Calcraft |
|
Robert Coe |
12/04/1866 |
William Calcraft |
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David Roberts |
02/03/1886 |
James Berry |
|
Thomas Allen |
10/04/1889 |
James Berry |
|
Joseph Lewis |
30/08/1898 |
James Billington |
Nine men would be executed here in the 20th century, all for murder. They were :
|
Name |
Date of execution |
Executioner/assistant |
|
William Joseph Foy |
08/05/1909 |
Henry Pierrepoint & John Ellis |
|
Henry Phillips |
14/12/1911 |
John Ellis & William Willis |
|
Daniel Sullivan |
06/09/1916 |
John Ellis & George Brown |
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Trevor Edwards |
11/12/1928 |
Robert Baxter & Alfred Allen |
|
Rex Harvey Jones |
04/08/1949 |
Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Kirk |
|
Robert Mackintosh |
04/08/1949 |
Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Kirk |
|
Albert Jenkins |
19/04/1950 |
Albert Pierrepoint & Harry Kirk |
|
Thomas Harries |
28/04/1954 |
Albert Pierrepoint & Robert Leslie Stewart |
|
Vivian Teed |
06/05/1958 |
Robert Leslie Stewart & Harry Robinson |
The gallows
arrangement used for William Foy was described as follows by one of the four
reporters permitted to witness the hanging.
“It was located in the gallery of the weaving house, in which operations
had been suspended since the condemnation. On the floor of this house the
scaffold had been erected. It was of a substantial, even enormous structure,
and was used for the first time at
In 1929 a
purpose built condemned suite was constructed. The plan shows the
condemned cells, bathrooms and the adjacent gallows room.
William
Joseph Foy (08/05/1909)
See article here.
Henry
Phillips (14/12/1911)
44 year old
Henry Phillips was a labourer and also an alcoholic. He was married to 39 year old Margaret but on
the 13th of July 1911 she left him due to his persistent physical abuse. She went to stay with her mother, Mrs. Ann
Ace, in
On Wednesday the 26th of July, Margaret’s sister, also Ann Ace, who was still living at home with her mother, had gone to draw water from the nearby well. She met up with Margaret and had a brief conversation. As she walked off she heard her sister scream “Oh Harry, Harry!” She turned to see her sister still standing but bleeding profusely from a wound to her throat. She ran back to her mother’s and returned with the older Ann and their lodger Thomas Casement. He gave chase to Phillips but gave up when Phillips threatened to kill him too.
Phillips then went to the “Welcome to Town Inn” where he bought beer and asked the landlord, John Thomas, to step outside as he wanted to tell him something. He informed Mr. Thomas that he had just killed his wife.
The police found Phillips asleep in a corn field later that evening and arrested him.
He was tried
at
Phillips was hanged by John Ellis and William Willis on Thursday the 14th of December 1911. A crowd of some 300 people stood outside the prison to see the execution notices posted.
Daniel
Sullivan (06/09/1916)
38 year old
Daniel Sullivan lived at
On the evening
of Saturday the 8th of July 1916, Sullivan had been drinking in the Antelope
pub in the village and then went home and demanded that Catherine, who had gone
to bed, get up and make him supper. When
she protested he attacked her, kicking her repeatedly.
Sullivan was
tried at
The main prosecution witnesses were Frederick and Bridget who had both been present when Catherine was attacked. It took the jury just half an hour to reach their verdict.
Remarkably a petition was got up for a reprieve, but this was ignored by the Home Office. Sullivan was duly hanged on Wednesday the 6th of September 1916, by John Ellis and George Brown.
Trevor John
Edwards (11/12/1928)
Elsie Cook had
been in a relationship with Edwards for some months. Both were 21 years old and lived in Llanwonno
in
Elsie’s parents were fine with it until Elsie found she was pregnant and told her mother on the 2nd of June 1928. Mrs. Cook held a family meeting with Edwards on the 6th of June and it was agreed that the couple should marry the following month.
On the evening of Saturday the 16th of June Edwards took Elsie to the Brynffynnon Hotel where they had a drink and he purchased a flagon of cider. They were seen together near the churchyard about 8.30 pm. On the Sunday morning David Griffiths was on the hillside when he saw a man covered in blood. Five minutes later, William James was approached by this man, asking for a match. James asked him about the blood and he replied that he had cut his throat and that he had killed his girlfriend. James called the police and Edwards repeated his story to them, telling them where Elsie’s body lay. When police went to the scene, they found Elsie had been battered with the cider flagon and nearly decapitated with a knife. Edwards admitted that he bought the flagon to use as a weapon, but having hit Elsie with it, she fought back so he choked and then slit her throat.
He told police that he was also having a relationship with another girl and Elsie’s pregnancy and their “forced” marriage were the reasons why he killed her.
After a one
day trial at
Rex Harvey
Jones (04/08/1949)
Rex Harvey Jones was hanged at Swansea Prison on Thursday the 4th of August 1949 by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Kirk.
He was 21 at the time of his death and had been convicted of the murder of Beatrice (Peggy) Mary Watts, aged 20, on Sunday the 5th of June 1949 in the Forestry Plantation at Nantybar, Cymmer.
Rex and some
friends had been out for a drink on a pleasant summer’s night at a club in
Neath. Beatrice and some of her friends
had been to a dance in Morriston and the two groups met up in
The next that was heard of them was when Rex phoned the police at 1.15 a.m. and told them to come as he had killed a girl, whose name he gave as Peggy Watts. The duty constable rode to the telephone box where Rex was waiting for him. Rex could give no reason for killing her and told the constable that they had gone into the plantation and had sex. When they had finished he manually strangled her.
Jones was
tried at
He did not
lodge an appeal and was hanged with Robert Macintosh (see below). This was the only double hanging at
Robert
Macintosh (04/08/1949)
16 year old
Beryl Beechy’s family were friends with the Macintosh family and had all lived
in the same house at one time. On the
evening of Friday the 3rd of June 1949, Beryl’s mum, Margaret, asked her
daughter to take 10 shillings (50p) to Mrs. Macintosh who lived in
Police enquiries soon led them to the Macintosh home.
When they interviewed 21 year old Robert Macintosh he told them that he got home from work at around 6 pm and that Beryl had called and given him the ten shillings, while he was cleaning the house. The police made a detailed examination of the home and discovered blood stains in Robert’s room and noted that material found on Beryl’s dress matched that from the staircase of the Macintosh home.
Macintosh changed his story and said that he had invited Beryl in and something had come over him, causing him to strangle her. He then took the body out, covered in a coat and threw it over a low wall onto the railway embankment.
Macintosh was
tried at
He was hanged alongside Rex Harvey Jones at Swansea Prison on Thursday the 4th of August 1949 by Albert Pierrepoint and Harry Kirk.
Albert
Edward Jenkins (19/04/1950)
38 year old Jenkins was a tenant farmer who was in financial difficulties. He was in overdraft at the bank and in arrears on the hire-purchase payments on his tractor. He farmed a mere 22 acres at Lower Furzehill Farm in Rosemarket, Pembrokeshire. He had asked his landlord, William Henry Llewellyn if he could purchase the small holding from him. William had agreed a price of £1000 for the farm plus £50 in back rent and had gone to visit Jenkins on the morning of Monday the 10th of October 1945 to conclude the deal. William was not seen alive again.
William’s battered body was discovered the following day, wrapped in a tarpaulin and buried in a clay pit.
Suspicion fell on Jenkins. A Mr. Codd from the Ministry of Agriculture had arranged to visit Jenkins on the Monday to discuss artificial insemination. He saw Jenkins drive past on his tractor without stopping and noted that there was a bundle wrapped in a tarpaulin on the vehicle and that Jenkins was blood stained. Another witness saw Jenkins at the clay pit with a shovel and later saw Jenkins riding William’s bicycle.
Jenkins came to trial at Haverfordwest on the 27th of February 1950, before Mr. Justice Byrne. The trial concluded on the 2nd of March, the jury taking just 105 minutes to return a guilty verdict.
Pembrokeshire
did not have execution facilities so Jenkins was transferred to
This was the first execution of a Pembrokeshire person since 1821.
Thomas
Harries - “The Pendine murder” (28/04/1954)
25 year old Thomas Ronald Lewis Harries was in severe financial difficulties in the autumn of 1953 and planned a double murder as a way of solving his problems.
Harries was the adopted nephew of 63 year old John Harries and his wife 54 year old Phoebe who were the owners of Cadno Farm at Llanginning in Carmarthenshire.
Harries was at the farm on the 16th of October 1953 and the following day told a neighbour that his uncle and aunt had gone on holiday leaving him in charge. This story was repeated but locals became suspicious when they did not return after a week or so. The disappearance was reported to the police who interviewed Harries. He told them the same story. However John Harries had given his nephew a cheque for £9 before he went missing. This had been altered to £909 and the bank could not clear it because John only had £123 in his account. The bank informed the police and this raised their suspicion of foul play as well as forgery.
Without any physical evidence however, a plan had to be devised to solve the case. On the 15th of November 1953 the police tied strings across all the exits from the farm. The following morning they found one of the strings had been broken leading to a field of kale. They also saw an area where the soil had been disturbed. This was dug up and the battered bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Harries were discovered.
At his trial
at Carmarthen on the 8th to the 16th of March 1954, before Mr. Justice Havers,
Harries could only offer a denial in his defence, saying that he had left them
alive on the night of the 16th of October and had taken them to Carmarthen
station to catch a train for
On Wednesday
the 28th of April 1954 Thomas Harries plummeted through the trap doors of
Vivian Teed
(06/05/1958)
Full case details are here.
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