A case of government admitting its wrongs

Somsak Pola, in his latest letter seeking to rebut criticism of his last, says, “Let me ask: suppose a man was executed and later it turned out that he was completely innocent. Would the state admit that it had killed an innocent man? Of course not.”

Well the answer to that question is to the contrary. The UK does not have the death penalty anymore, and for good reason: a series of appalling miscarriages of justice. The most regrettable of these was the hanging of Timothy John Evans for the murder of his wife and daughter at their now-infamous residence at 10 Rillington Place. In fact the murders were carried out by John Christie, who lived at the same address.

This grotesque injustice, along with the wrongful judicial killings of many others, including Derek Bentley, hastened the abolition of the death penalty. All of those mentioned above were given a posthumous pardon by the state, which is of little value to them, but at least it set the record straight and showed the state to have been wrong.

Fred Morrice

Bangkok