Gwynne Owen Evans

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Gwynne Owen Evans (real name John Robson Walby or Welaby) was 24 years old when on 13 August 1964 he and his accomplice Peter Anthony Allen became the last men in the United Kingdom to be executed. They were hanged for the murder of John Alan West.

When Allen and Evans were tried together at Manchester Crown Court in July 1964, the charge against them was capital murder under the Homicide Act 1957. This was because the murder of West had been committed in the course of theft. During the trial the judge asked the jury to decide if the murder had actually been committed by one of the two men alone; in the latter case the other would only be found guilty of non-capital murder at the most. The jury found both men equally guilty, and both were sentenced to death by hanging.

The last female to be executed in the UK was Ruth Ellis.