Talk:David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir

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Mention should be made of David Maxwell Fyfe's disgraceful behavior as home secretary in the Derek Bentley case. Bentley, "who was dim-witted, had no record of violence, had no gun, had not fired the shot, and had been under police arrest for fifteen minutes before the fatal shooting" (DNB, entry for Derek Bentley), was executed in 1953 for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles.

Despite the manifest deficiencies of the trial, which included a notoriously biased summing up against the defense by the judge, the youth and mental deficiency of the defendant, and other factors, Maxwell Fyfe refused to recommend that the queen exercise the prerogative of mercy.

"There is little doubt that the home secretary was wrong in refusing to commute the sentence of death. Clemency can normally be exercised for any one of the following reasons: youth; mental problems; a jury recommendation for mercy; widespread or strong local public opinion; the principle that if the leading actor cannot be executed then neither should any associate; and the existence of more than a scintilla of doubt about the evidence. Bentley met each criterion. Maxwell Fyfe's advisers recommended clemency but he remained obdurate to the end." (ibid.)

Again from the DNB, "In 1997 the case was one of the earliest examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission for a suspected miscarriage of justice. The commission determined that it merited referring back to the Court of Appeal to reconsider the verdict. This time the court decided that the conviction was unsafe and quashed it on 30 July 1998."

I do agree, I plan to add a few lines about Maxwell Fyfe's actions on the Derek Bentley case. Despite the appeals of 200 MPs, he decdided not to grant clemency. It was quite possible Maxwell Fyfe took the line that "someone must pay" over the death of the police officer since Craig was too young to hang.

smr 10:48, 18 August 2006 (UTC)smrgeog