The chilling secrets of Britain’s last hangman who sealed the fate of some of history’s most notorious killers has been uncovered after meticulous diaries detailing his executions were discovered in his goddaughter’s loft.
Albert Pierrepoint kept pocket books throughout his 25-year career, during which he executed up to 600 people, including infamous criminals Ruth Ellis, Lord Haw-Haw and the Acid Bath murderer John Haigh.
In his notebooks, the executioner wrote detailed notes on every single individual who met their end in his dreaded hangman’s noose.
Across eight columns he jotted down details, including name, age, height, weight, date and place of execution.
As a child, Yorkshire-born Pierrepoint dreamt of carrying on the family profession and handed out capital punishment until 1956, while also working as a green grocer.
Albert Pierrepoint executed 400 people during his more than 20 year career as a hangman
William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda during the war, is listed in Pierrepoint’s book
The hangman’s notebook is expected to sell for £12,000 when it’s sold at auction in May
Pierrepoint’s wife is reported to have asked few questions about her husband’s job. When called to carry out a hanging, he would simply tell her, ‘I shan’t be seeing you for a couple of days.’
After retiring from the chilling trade, the former executioner ran a pub his wife Annie in Southport, Merseyside, before he died aged 87 in 1992.
But while to many he was their smiling pub landlord, the notebooks which were discovered while doing a clear-out from his goddaughter’s loft reveal the grisly details of the business.
One particularly gruesome detail included in the notebook is the scrupulous categorisation of his subjects’ neck types, which were either ‘ordinary, strong or thin’.
The astonishing discovery gives an insight into some of Britain’s most notorious criminals, including infamous traitor William Joyce who, as Lord Haw-Haw, broadcast Nazi propaganda during the war.
Joyce was executed by Pierrepoint on January 3, 1946 at Wandsworth Prison in south London.
The ‘Acid Bath murderer’, John Haigh, who killed six people between 1944 and 1949 and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid, is also listed in Pierrepoint’s book.
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, was hung in Holloway prison
Ruth Ellis is recorded as being 5ft 2 in Pierrepoint’s notebook at the time of her death in 1955
‘Acid Bath Murderer’ John Haigh is also listed in Pierrepoint’s notebook
Rillington Place Strangler John Christie, who murdered at least eight people was also listed in the pocketbook.
Ruth Ellis, who was the last woman to be executed in Britain in 1955, is another notable name listed in the hangman’s notes.
She was hanged in Holloway Prison for shooting dead her lover outside a pub in Hampstead, north-west London.
The names of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley also appear. The two men were convicted of separate murders and hanged only to be posthumously pardoned.
Their cases played a major part in the death penalty being scrapped in Britain in 1965.
William Joyce, known as Lord Haw Haw, gained notoriety as a traitor during World War II
William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda during the war, is listed in Pierrepoint’s book
Pierrepoint was the third in his family to take up the profession, his father Henry and uncle Thomas were both executioners.
The Yorkshireman grew up with dreams to continue the family profession, once writing: ‘When I leave school I should like to be the Official Executioner.’
The chief hangman handed out capital punishment from 1932 to 1956 and performed hundreds of executions.
He was summoned to Germany after the Second World War to mete out justice to Nazi war criminals.
Albert Pierrepoint’s notebook is titled ‘Details of Executions’
The hangman’s notebook is expected to sell for £12,000 when it’s sold at auction in May
Albert Pierrepoint executed around 400 people including notorious German Nazi war criminal Josef Kramer (pictured)
The notebooks provide detailed notes on the subjects of Pierrepoint’s executions
The executioner reportedly believed a ‘higher power’ had selected him to carry out the ‘sacred’ work of hangings.
Pierrepoint is believed to have had his notebook with him while carrying out his executions and to have referred to it when he wrote up official reports.
He used this information so he could calculate the correct drop height to achieve the quickest and cleanest death for the condemned man or woman.
The hangman, who worked a second job as a green grocer, is believed to have given the notebooks to his god-daughter.
It is she who unearthed the macabre notebooks during a recent clear out of her home and has now put them up for sale.
The executioner jotted down meticulous details on every person that died in his noose
Irma Grese, Juana Bormann, Elisabeth Volkenrath and Franz Hassler (pictured) were found guilty of war crimes, sentenced to death by a British military court and executed by hanging on December 13, 1945, at Hamelin prison by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint
Pierrepoint executed hundreds of Nazi war criminals following the end of the World War II
In his autobiography published in 1974, Pierrepoint later he admitted he did not himself believe in capital punishment.
‘It is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree. There have been murders since the beginning of time, and we shall go on looking for deterrents until the end of time,’ Pierrepoint wrote.
‘If death were a deterrent, I might be expected to know. It is I who have faced them last, young men and girls, working men, grandmothers.
‘I have been amazed to see the courage with which they take that walk into the unknown. It did not deter them then, and it had not deterred them when they committed what they were convicted for.
‘All the men and women whom I have faced at that final moment convince me that in what I have done I have not prevented a single murder.’
The executioner was, however, hailed as a hero by many once his identity was his revealed.
Pierrepoint’s notebook is expected to fetch £12,000 when it goes under the hammer at SAS Auctions of Newbury, Berkshire on May 11.
Pierrepoint meticulously detailed his executions until he stopped working as a hangman in the 1950s
Albert Pierrepoint, the official executioner of England, seen here on honeymoon with his wife Annie
Pierrepoint opened a pub in Southport, Merseyside, with his wife Annie after he retired
The hangman later said he was against the death penalty in his autobiography
The historic pocketbook, titled Details of Executions, is being sold along with photos of Pierrepoint and his father.
The vendor, who is not being named, knew Pierrepoint as ‘Uncle Albert’ and recalled him being a ‘mildly spoken, kind, calm’ man who was ‘lots of fun’ and ‘always keen to play football in the garden.’
‘These items are far too precious and too unique to be left in a drawer,’ the seller said.
‘There is already a generation that think hanging in this country happened thousands of years ago, rather than relatively recently.
‘After the Queen’s passing, I decided to sell them as I feel strongly that history could be lost if they are not preserved.’
Adam Inglut, a specialist at SAS, said: ‘This is an exceptional piece of British history and a real insight into the career of one of Britain’s last executioners.
‘The notebook offers us a chance to read and understand the intricacies of this most unusual career.
‘Getting the drop height right was a bit of a unique science. The heavier the person, the shorter the drop.
‘If they fell too hard there was a chance their head would come off. If they didn’t fall hard enough they would hang there suffocating to death.
‘This notebook would have been with him when he carried out his work in prisons. He wrote up an official ledger later on and no doubt used these very notes.
‘It is an extremely rare and unique piece from history which is very unusual to come across.’
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