True Detective August 2015

True Detective August 2015

£3.50

On Monday, November 1st, 1965, 23-year-old David Chapman was convicted of the murder of a 65-year-old swimming-pool nightwatchman

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True Detective August: On Monday, November 1st, 1965, 23-year-old David Chapman was convicted of the murder of a 65-year-old swimming-pool nightwatchman and was told by Mr. Justice Cecil Havers that he would “suffer death in the manner authorised by law.”

But Chapman knew he wouldn’t be hanged by the neck until dead – because from late 1964 a Bill abolishing capital punishment for murder had wound its way through Parliament, with support from the new Labour Government and a substantial number of Tory MPs.

Sure enough, a week after Chapman left the dock for the condemned cell, the Bill became law. Chapman left the shadow of the noose to serve, instead, a life sentence that in reality amounted to 13 and a half years.

That was nearly 50 years ago. To mark the anniversary of the end of capital punishment, this issue TD begins a new series called Hanged For Murder, in which we look at the lives and crimes of some of the lesser-known killers who went to the gallows.

Meanwhile, in the USA – Nebraska notwithstanding – capital punishment is still a going concern. But the process of execution by lethal injection is audibly creaking, to such an extent that one state has now signed into law a possible return to the gas chamber.

Solved after 43 years recalls the aftermath of a US school dance murder in 1969. The three killers made a pact not to confess but years later one at last did. He was sentenced for manslaughter. But when the other two came to court, one was let free only for the other killer to be found guilty. All this and more in the new issue

* The killing of America’s deadliest sniper
* Crimes That Made The Headlines: Horror on Kent marsh
* True Detective’s Diary Of Murder: August
* NEW SERIES – Hanged For Murder: Two wives, two mistresses, one murder
* Why they murdered the bridegroom
* Ireland’s Road Map To Murder: Ten Belfast Cases
* Questions & Answers: Violette left her parents to die
* Execution USA
* Solved After 43 Years
* America’s Most Evil: Near-decapitation at Walla Walla
* PLUS: TD’s Crime Photos / Prize Competition / Your Letters / Make A Break: Wordsearch and yet more!

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