THE PORTER’S REPRIEVE

Following an altercation on FEBRUARY 18th, 1955, between English and Cypriot youths outside a café in Islington High Street, north London, James Robinson, 20, was found stabbed to death in a nearby alley.

He had recently been demobbed from the army, and his attacker was Michael Demetris Xinaris, an 18-year-old porter who at his Old Bailey trial claimed he had acted in self-defence.

It took the jury less than 20 minutes, however, to find him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death.

His appeal was dismissed and his execution was set for June 5th. Then, 48 hours before he was due to go to the gallows at Pentonville Prison, he was reprieved. He was released in 1963 after serving eight years.