Derek Bentley should have never have been hanged. His hanging represents a serious miscarriage of justice. He was merely a scapegoat for the crimes of others.
The hanging of Derek Bentley was wrong and one of the worst cases of injustice in the UK. Derek Bentley came from a normal, working class family that loved and cared for him. Derek Bentley was an innocent young boy aged 19 with a mental age of 11 who suffered from epilepsy. Derek Bentley was hanged because of a cheeky impudent young boy named Christopher Craig who was aged 16.Christopher was the gang leader and bully, he had an elder brother named Niven Craig who was the local gangster, who Chris idolised and worshipped. Niven had recently been jailed and Christopher Craig wanted revenge against the police and authorities. Craig saw Bentley as an easy target and Craig represented something exciting and new to Bentley. Craig got Derek to be part of the local gang. Derek was manipulated into Craig's gang and had a lot of peer pressure on him too. On the second of November 1952 Craig and Bentley broke into the confectioners but as they are doing this they are spotted by a lady lived across the street she told her husband and they phoned the police. Derek and Chris get up on to the roof by the drainpipe while the police are on their way. DC Fairfax had arrived the confectioners and climbed up onto the roof, Derek hears him coming up and starts to panic. Chris was dominating Derek. When DC Fairfax sees Derek on the roof Derek sensibly gave himself up to him. Meanwhile Chris is hiding behind a brick wall reloading his gun. DC Fairfax and Derek are unaware that Chris is in possession of a gun. Chris owned lots of guns and swapped them at school for his own collection. Craig decided to shoot his way out and fired at DC Fairfax wounding him in the shoulder. At some time during the shooting, Bentley is said the now famous words "Let him have it, Chris". Other officers arrived on the scene within minutes, some of them armed. Craig continued shooting at anyone that moved, PC Sidney Miles came up the stairs and through the door onto the roof, he was shot through the head and died almost instantly. The trial was held at the Old Bailey on Thursday the 9th of December 1952.When Derek appears in court he is bruised on his face this suggests that he was beaten up in custody by the police. When Derek was questioned in court he looked around the court room and stared at his father thinking his father will help him as in the past when Derek got himself into trouble his father always helped get out of it. However Chris was cheeky and impudent in one of the highest courts in the land. Derek Bentley was charged with murder and a recommendation for mercy. While Chris’s was charged was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty Pleasure.
