On the 28th January 1953 (very much in living history), Derek Bentley who was 19 was hanged for the murder of a policeman which was committed during an attempted robbery. The case sparked a huge public controversy and many people questioned the sentence and it's circumstances.
Bentley was proven to have many health and developmental issues and had been tested for such previous to and during the trial. He had epilepsy and a low I.Q, being described as "quite illiterate" with a reading age of just 4 1/2 years old. This obviously led to concerns about culpability and whether he was capable of recalling events accurately when questioned, especially under pressure.
At the time the murder was attributed to Bentley's friend and partner in crime Christopher Craig who was then aged 16, however this was later called into question and Bentley was convicted as a party to murder in no small part to a comment he is supposed to have made of "let him have it". Judge Chief Justice Goddard described Bentley as "mentally aiding the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles" and sentenced him to death by hanging which was apparently the only suitable sentence.
Following many years of controversy and appeals by the family (his parents until their deaths then by his sister until hers) and many people caught up in the case Bentley was given a posthumous Royal pardon in 1993, his conviction was eventually quashed in 1998.
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