Derek Bentley & the Death Penalty: Case Study (Edexcel GCSE History)

Derek Bentley and the Death Penalty: Case Study – Timeline

Derek Bentley and the Death Penalty: Case Study – Summary

The Events of Derek Bentley’s execution, 1952

A diagram of the key events in the Derek Bentley case

Trial and Punishment of Derek Bentley

• Though Bentley did not fire the fatal shot, both Bentley and Craig were put on trial for murder under joint enterprise

• Given Bentley’s severe learning difficulties, many felt that he should not give evidence

• Much of the trial centred around the ambiguity of Bentley saying “Let him have it”

  • Bentley and Craig both denied that Bentley said this

  • Bentley’s lawyer argued that, even if Bentley had said this, he could have been encouraging Craig to hand over his gun, not encouraging him to shoot

• The judge turned down appeals for mercy from both the jury and Bentley’s lawyer

• Both Bentley and Craig were found guilty of murder

• The table below outlines what happened to Craig and Bentley after their convictions

Table of the consequences of Craig and Bentley’s convictions

Significance of the Derek Bentley Case

Initial reactions

• Bentley’s death sentence led to an outcry from

  • Politicians

    • Around two hundred MPs signed a memorandum asking Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe to cancel the execution

    • This was refused

  • Ordinary people

    • A gathering of five thousand protesters chanted ‘murder’ outside Wandsworth Prison on the day of Bentley’s execution

    • Some ripped down the death notices on the prison gates and clashed with the police

    • Two were arrested for property damage

The abolition of the death penalty

• The reaction to Bentley’s case contributed to arguments against the death penalty

• Many argued that, like the case of Timothy Evans, Bentley’s case was a miscarriage of justice

• Three years after Bentley’s execution, the use of the death penalty was further criticised in the case of Ruth Ellis 

  • Ellis shot and killed David Blakely, with whom she had been in an abusive relationship

  • She had been severely beaten and suffered a miscarriage

  • Despite her technical guilt, the public deeply sympathised with Ellis, and many objected to her execution

• Alongside other factors, these high-profile cases meant that the death penalty was eventually abolished