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	Derek Bentley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Derek Bentley (30 June 1933 - 28 January 1953) was hanged at the age of 19 for a murder committed by a friend, creating a cause célèbre and leading to a 45-year long successful campaign to win him a posthumous pardon.
		Various appeals highlighting the ambiguous evidence, Bentley's mental age, and the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot did not secure a reprieve, and on 28 January 1953 Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, London, by Albert Pierrepoint.
		Though Bentley was not accused of attacking any of the police officers being shot at by Craig, for him to be convicted of murder as an accessory in a joint enterprise it was necessary for the prosecution to prove that he knew that Craig had a deadly weapon when they began the break-in.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Derek_Bentley (1033 words)

	Derek Bentley
		Derek Bentley was hanged on the 28th of January 1953, at the age of 19 and the above words appear on his grave stone.
		Derek Bentley was illiterate and is alleged to have had a mental age of 11.
		Derek Bentley received no benefit of any of the doubts mentioned above and was hanged on purely technical grounds to avenge the death of a policeman that everyone knew he didn't kill.
	www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk /bentley.html (2495 words)

	Derek Bentley (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		The niece of Derek Bentley completed a 46-year crusade to clear her uncle's name by laying the judgment which quashed his conviction for murdering a policeman by his grave.
		But in a further twist of controversy surrounding the case, she branded maverick Tory MP Roger Gale as "appalling" for suggesting that Bentley was still guilty.
		Bentley was hanged in January 1953 for his part in a robbery at a Croydon warehouse in which his 16-year-old accomplice, Christopher Craig, fired multiple shots, killing Pc Sydney Miles.
	www.truthinjustice.org /bentley.htm (354 words)

	Printer Friendly Format - This Is Hertfordshire (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Bentley's name was finally cleared to the joy of his surviving relations who have fought one of the longest-running campaigns in British legal history.
		Bentley's delighted niece, Maria Bentley-Dingwall, who took over the fight to clear the 19 year old's name following the death of her mother Iris last year, said she was "elated" by the decision.
		Derek Bentley - who had a mental age of just 11 - and his accomplice Christopher Craig, 16, were convicted of shooting PC Sidney Miles on the roof of Barlow and Parker, a wholesale confectioner in Tamworth Road in 1952.
	www.thisishertfordshire.co.uk /misc/print.php?artid=72576 (360 words)

	Printer Friendly Format - Barnet Times (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Bentley's name was finally cleared to the joy of his surviving relatives who have fought one of the longest-running campaigns in British legal history.
		Bentley's delighted niece, former Colliers Wood councillor Maria Bentley-Dingwall, who took over the fight to clear her uncle's name following the death of her mother Iris last year, told the News she was "elated" by the decision.
		Derek Bentley - who had a mental age of just 11 at the time - and his accomplice Christopher Craig, 16, were convicted of shooting PC Sidney Miles in Croydon in 1952.
	www.barnettimes.co.uk /misc/print.php?artid=71824 (339 words)

	Accomplice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		One of the most notorious cases of this type was the 1952 case in England involving Derek Bentley, a mentally-challenged man who was in police custody when his sixteen-year-old companion, Chris Craig, shot and killed a police officer during a botched break-in (News Report [1]).
		The incident was dramatized in the film Let Him Have It, which is what Bentley allegedly said to Craig during the incident, it being unclear whether he meant to shoot the officer or to hand the gun to him.
		The hanging of Bentley led to public outrage and the eventual abolition of capital punishment in the United Kingdom.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Accomplice (449 words)

	Derek Bentley
		Derek Bentley was hanged, in January 1953, for his part in a robbery on a confectionery warehouse in Croydon during which his accomplice, Christopher Craig, shot and killed a police officer.
		The jury never heard that Bentley was an epileptic with a mental age of eleven, that he was dominated by the personality of Craig (who had a deep hatred of the police after his brother was convicted of robbery), but, even so, asked for leniency when they returned their verdict.
		Bentley's family have for years now declared their belief that he was unfairly treated and have demanded that the case be re-opened or reviewed but numerous Home Secretaries have refused to consider such a request.
	www.hippy.freeserve.co.uk /bentley.htm (707 words)

	Bentley was hanged after 'a grossly unfair trial'
		DEREK Bentley, who was hanged 45 years ago for his part in the murder of a policeman, was convicted on "highly suspect" evidence and subjected to a "grossly unfair" trial, the Appeal Court was told yesterday.
		Bentley, then aged 19, was convicted in December, 1952, of murdering Pc Sidney Miles while he and Christopher Craig, an accomplice, were trying to break into a confectionary warehouse in Croydon, south London.
		Mr Fitzgerald said the judge never directed the jury to give Bentley the benefit of any doubt and, in a case where the jury was clearly troubled and the prosecution's case was seriously flawed, the "absence of the mandatory direction must be fatal to the safeness of the conviction".
	telegraph.co.uk /htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/07/21/nben21.html (578 words)

	The Murder of Sydney George Miles: Bentley trial unfair through flawed summing-up
		Bentley denied that he had gone on a warehouse-breaking expedition, it being only when Craig had climbed over the gates leading to the building that he realised they were going to break in.
		Counsel for Bentley's submission was based on the trial judge's suggesting that the prosecution had given abundant evidence for a case calling for an answer and that a case had been established against the defendants, then continuing, in effect, to consider whether the evidence of the defendants was such as to rebut that case.
		Counsel for Bentley submitted that the direction to the jury, read as a whole, was unfair and prejudicial to Bentley, put unfair pressure on the jury to convict and failed adequately to put his case to them.
	ourworld.compuserve.com /homepages/rob_jerrard/Bentley.htm (4140 words)

	Printer Friendly Format - This Is Local London (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		The family of Derek Bentley, the 19-year-old hanged in 1952 following the murder of a policeman in Croydon, came closer to clearing his name as the case reached the Court of Appeal this week.
		Bentley's niece Maria Ding-wall-Bentley says she is "quietly confident" his conviction can finally be quashed.
		Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison for his part in the shooting of PC Sid Miles on the roof of Barlow and Parker, a wholesale confectioner in Tamworth Road, Croydon.
	www.thisislocallondon.co.uk /misc/print.php?artid=70775 (329 words)

	Derek Bentley Story - my view (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Derek Bentley was born on the 30th of June, 1933, and was hanged 19 years later.
		Bentley and Craig failed with the first two break-in attempts (due to a Butcher working late in his shop, and a courting couple being in the door of an electrical shop), but then tried the warehouse of the confectioners, Parker and Barlow.
		Derek Bentley, at age nineteen, was hanged in Wandsworth at 9am on 28th January 1953.
	www.simonreap.com /Bentley/db_story.html (1824 words)

	BBC ON THIS DAY \| 28 \| 1953: Derek Bentley hanged for murder
		Bentley was sentenced to death on 11 December for killing Pc Miles during a bungled break-in at a warehouse in Croydon, Surrey.
		Bentley was convicted on the basis of police evidence.
		Bentley's defence claimed he was already under arrest at the time the shots were fired and was simply urging Craig to give up his gun.
	news.bbc.co.uk /onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_3393000/3393807.stm (623 words)

	Printer Friendly Format - Wimbledon Guardian (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		A 46-year fight for justice by the Colliers Wood family of Derek Bentley - hanged in 1953 for murdering a policeman - has finally ended with his conviction being quashed by the Court of Appeal.
		Bentley's name was cleared to the joy of his surviving relatives who have fought one of the longest-running campaigns in legal history.
		Derek, who had a mental age of 11, and Christopher Craig, 16, were convicted of shooting PC Sidney Miles in Croydon in 1952.
	www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk /misc/print.php?artid=72690 (305 words)

	Derek Bentley -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Derek Bentley (30 June, 1933 - 28 January, 1953) was hanged at the age of 19 for a murder committed by a friend, creating a (Any incident that attracts great public attention) cause célèbre and leading to a 45-year long successful campaign to win him a posthumous pardon.
		Bentley had a difficult upbringing during which he suffered serious injury from a (Click link for more info and facts about V1 Flying Bomb) V1 Flying Bomb and developed (A disorder of the central nervous system characterized by loss of consciousness and convulsions) epilepsy.
		In an unprecedented and damning attack, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, ruled that his predecessor and Bentley's trial judge, Lord Chief Justice Goddard, had denied Bentley "that fair trial that is the birthright of every British citizen.
	www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/d/de/derek_bentley.htm (534 words)

	Derek Bentley
		Derek Bentley is one of a small group of people in the 20th century who have received posthumous pardons.
		Derek Bentley (aged 19) and Christopher Craig (aged 16) broke into a London warehouse on 2 November 1952.
		Bentley and Craig then went on to the flat roof of the building (Barlow and Parker's Warehouse, Tanworth Road, Croydon) and hid behind a lift-housing.
	www.stephen-stratford.co.uk /derek_bentley.htm (907 words)

	Bentley cleared after 45 years (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		THE murder conviction of Derek Bentley, the teenager hanged more than 45 years ago for the shooting of a police officer, was quashed yesterday in a historic judgment greeted with tears and elation by his relatives.
		Bentley was found guilty of murder in 1952 and hanged in January of the following year, despite the fact that it was his accomplice, Christopher Craig, who fired the fatal shot that killed Pc Sidney Miles.
		Bentley's younger brother, Dennis, 56, who yesterday recalled police officers coming to his parents' house and saying "your son has shot a policeman", said he was dismayed that the decision had taken so long.
	www.simonreap.com /Bentley/980731/telegraph_archive_1998_07_31_nben31.html (987 words)

	Derek Bentley Page (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		This page is dedicated to Derek Bentley, who was hanged on 28 January 1953 for a murder he did not commit.
		Bentley, completely unarmed and while being held by a policeman after an abortive break-in, is alleged to have called out to his accomplice "Let him have it, Chris".
		The song Derek Bentley, written by Karl Dallas and performed by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, appears on MacColl's album The Legend of Ewan MacColl (thanks to Kevin Lowe for this, David McDonald for the author's name, and Karl himself for permission to reprint it).
	web1.pipemedia.net /~sar/bentley/db_main.html (1631 words)

	Pulped Fiction
		Bentley was under arrest at the time of the fatal shooting, and not carrying a firearm of any description, although he did have a knuckle-duster given to him by Craig.
		Bentley is undoubtedly the film's victim, not at the hands of the police, but at the hands of Chris - himself a victim of his brother's glamorous lifestyle - who entices Bentley into crime and ultimately fires the shot that costs Bentley his life.
		Iris Bentley indicated during our interview that while she was unhappy about a number of points - including the use of the phrase "Let him have it" as both the title of the film and its fulcrum - but overall the film was a positive force in the fight to clear Derek's name.
	tarlton.law.utexas.edu /lpop/etext/usf/greenfield30.htm (7354 words)

	Salon Entertainment \| Home Movies by Charles Taylor: Invitation to a lynching
		The court found that Bentley had been denied "that fair trial which is the birthright of every British citizen." The judge had instructed the jury to disregard the whole of Bentley's defense, and to give an inordinate amount of weight to what was most likely perjured police testimony.
		Bentley (who also suffered from epilepsy and was nearly illiterate) was estimated to have a mental age of 11 and should probably never have appeared in court.
		William Bentley is an ordinary man forced to act with extraordinary courage at the same time he's forced to question the faith he's always placed in the bedrock institutions of his society.
	archive.salon.com /ent/movies/tayl/1998/08/18tayl.html (1574 words)

	"Let him have it"
		Bentley was illiterate and had an IQ which put him in the bottom 1% of the population;
		Bentley claimed at his trial that the police had "helped" him with his statement.
		The police denied Bentley's claims, on oath, and asserted that the statement was an accurate "verbatim" record of what Bentley had said to them, taken down at his dictation a few hours after his arrest.
	web.bham.ac.uk /forensic/Bentley_temp.html (883 words)

	Amazon.co.uk: Let Him Have It [1991]: DVD (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Derek Bentley and his family may not have got justice all those years ago but everyone who was involved in the project has done him justice now in helping them clear his name and be pardoned.
		Notwithstanding Derek's learning disability, the ambiguity of the statement attributed to him, and his tangential involvement during the shootout with the police, Derek was given the death penalty.
		The draconian sentence was a heartbreaking blow to Derek and his family, as it was always Derek's position that he meant for the shooter to let the police have the gun.
	www.amazon.co.uk /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004D01G (1025 words)

	BBC News \| UK \| Bentley hanged on 'highly suspect' evidence
		The Court of Appeal was told that Derek Bentley, the teenager hanged for murdering a policeman 45 years ago, had been convicted on "highly suspect" evidence.
		Derek Bentley was mentally handicapped - a fact that never emerged at the trial.
		Bentley's sister Iris mounted a lifelong campaign to quash Bentley's conviction after he was executed at Wandsworth Prison in January 1953.
	news.bbc.co.uk /1/hi/uk/142283.stm (536 words)

	INNOCENT - Fighting miscarriages of justice
		The Bentleys disapproved of the friendship, knowing of Craig's habits, but their son ignored their entreaties, meeting up with Craig on what was to be his last night of freedom.
		Bentley said that he was unaware that they were going to carry out the robbery on the confectionery warehouse until Craig started climbing gates leading into an alleyway.
		Three police officers said that Bentley had shouted out "Let him have it" and one alleged that after those words were uttered a shot was fired and one officer received a glancing blow, probably a ricochet, on the shoulder.
	www.innocent.org.uk /cases/derekbentley (5436 words)

	Printer Friendly Format - This Is Local London
		Tears and champagne flowed yesterday as Derek Bentley's family and friends expressed their delight at the Appeal Court's decision.
		But Bentley's younger brother Dennis - who until this week had not spoken to the media about the case - told the News while he was relieved justice had finally been won, the decision was not cause for a full celebration.
		Mr Bentley added it was such a shame his sister had not lived to hear the outcome.
	www.thisislocallondon.co.uk /misc/print.php?artid=71760 (294 words)

	Bentley's sister dies without winning pardon she fought for
		Derek Bentley was 19 when he was hanged for his part in the murder of Pc Sidney Miles in 1952 during a burglary that went wrong.
		Miss Bentley had suffered from bowel cancer and later cancer of the spine which first affected her in 1974.
		Miss Bentley, a former cinema usherette told journalists in 1953 that she would "devote the rest of my life to fighting for the reform of the criminal law".
	telegraph.co.uk /htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1997/01/23/nben23.html (642 words)

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