Timothy Evans

From Ffaith

The man in your conscience

The fact that Britain has no death penalty is due in part to the wrongful hanging of a 25 year old Merthyr born Welshman. Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his wife and baby daughter in March 1950. Three years later his landlord John Reginald Halliday Christie was arrested after a number of bodies had been discovered at his former address - 10 Rillington Place. Christie confessed to the murders, including those for which Evans had been hanged. A book about the Evans case "The man in your conscience" by criminal lawyer Michael Eddowes was heavily influencial in the fierce debate on the death penalty that took place after Christie's execution in 1953. On February 17th 1956 Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty. The amendment was carried by a majority of 31 votes. Evans was granted a posthumous pardon in 1966.