The outcome of the trial, and Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe's failure to grant clemency to Bentley, were highly controversial. Trow asserts that with Pain's testimony, with a less biassed judge, and with a less blinkered (blind?

I thank the Queen for the posthumous pardon, however in my opinion it makes the most minor difference as Bentley was still hanged. Witnesses to the crime reported hearing Bentley shouting, “Let him have it, Chris,” before the trigger was pulled.

Bentley was convicted as a party to the crime under the English law principle of joint enterprise, as the burglary had been committed in mutual understanding and bringing deadly weapons. The author has found new evidence from which it would appear likely that there was a policeman present at the crime who was not prepared to testify that the words had been uttered, and whose evidence was never given at the trial. Let Him Have Justice : The True Story of Derek Bentley, Hanged for a Crime He Did Not Commit by Penelope Iris; Dening - 1st Edition - 1995 - from Richard Sylvanus Williams (Est 1976) (Bookdealer) (SKU: kb604.

He intended to kill, he killed and he showed no remorse for doing so but Bentley had only been armed with a knife and a knuckleduster, not a gun.

Forty-six years after that dreadful event Bentley finally received a posthumous acquittal at the hands of Lord Bingham. This does not imply that the book is reserved for you but simply that at the time of the request it was listed as available on our computer. English law at the time did not recognise the concept of diminished responsibility due to retarded development, though it existed in Scottish law (it was introduced to England by the Homicide Act 1957). Kangaroo Court: Despite all the lavish trappings and procedures of Her Majesty's Court, the outcome isn't in doubt by the time Derek takes the stand.