James Smith was the sixth-last criminal to be executed in a British prison. He was hanged on November 28, 1962 for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Cross in her sweetshop at Miles Platting, Manchester. He was 26.
Smith had entered the shop one Friday afternoon in May 1962 and battered Mrs. Cross to death to rob her of about £6. Painstaking work by local detectives matched minute particles of glass found on Smith's clothing and at his home with the remnants of glass bottles found in the shop and used in the attack on Mrs. Cross. Smith's fingerprint was also found on a newly-painted door frame.
Smith was sentenced to death on October 17, 1962 and hanged at Strangeways prison in Manchester on November 28, 1962.