Breaking eggs to make omelettes

Ronald Ryan

It was 40 years ago at 8am on Friday February 3, 1967 when Ronald Ryan walked five steps from cell 63, the condemned cell in D Division at Pentridge Prison, and was hanged from the same gallows bar where Ned Kelly had been hanged a century before.

Ryan’s body was buried in an unmarked grave filled with quicklime. Outside the prison over 3,000 demonstrators staged a silent vigil in protest at the execution.

A decade of social revolution had swept Australia during the 1960s and came to a grinding halt when Ronald Joseph Ryan became the last man hanged in Australia. Ryan’s fate was sealed by an egotistical Victorian Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, who brushed aside all appeals and petitions for clemency by saying at the time, “a hanging is 10 per cent of the vote”. A state election was looming and Ryan became an expendable pawn in Bolte’s rise to power.

Ronald Ryan, a small-time burglar with no record of violence, began his journey to the gallows in 1964 after he was sentenced to 13 years jail for shop-breaking while armed with a gun. A Christmas party for Pentridge prison guards on Sunday, December 19, 1965 left a skeleton staff on duty. At 2pm Ryan and Peter John Walker scaled the wall of B Division and dropped into no-man’s land underneath Guard Tower 1.

A makeshift broom-hook attached to a rope of bedspreads enabled Ryan and Walker to climb onto the tower catwalk where they surprised prison guard Helmut Lange. Ryan snatched an M1carbine from the gun rack but mistakenly ejected a live round from the weapon. He leveled the gun at Lange and forced him to open the door leading onto the street. The pair ran out into a busy stream of traffic on Sydney Road looking for a prearranged getaway car that was not there.

The alarm prompted other prison guards into action and they began firing from the guard towers while Ryan was trying to commandeer a vehicle. Prison guard George Henry Hodson ran out the main gate and tried to grab Walker. Ryan leveled the rifle at Hodson. A shot rang out and Hodson fell dead onto the tram tracks as Walker and Ryan leaped into a blue Vanguard and drove away.

Ryan always claimed he pointed the gun at Hodson during the escape but never fired the weapon. There was no forensic evidence to indicate Ryan’s weapon had been fired but if it was the weapon that killed Hodson it would have required two missing rounds, one ejected in Guard Tower 1 and one on Sydney Road. Only one cartridge was unaccounted for when the weapon was eventually examined. That evidence coupled with the trajectory of the entry bullet wound indicated that the fatal shot had been fired from a prison guard tower while Ryan was on the ground.

After the escape Ryan and Walker robbed the Ormond ANZ bank and holed-up in the home of Christine Aitkin at Elwood. A young tow-truck driver, James "Boofhead" Henderson, recognised Ryan and confided to Walker that Aitkin’s friend looked like the prison escapee Ronald Ryan. He suggested they claim the reward. Walker shot Henderson and left his body in a public toilet at Albert Park.

The pair fled to Sydney after the Henderson shooting where Walker looked up an old girlfriend, Simone Hurley, a nurse at the Concord Repatriation Hospital, and asked her to organise a double-date for him and Ryan. Hurley tipped off police and the notorious Detective Inspector Ray “Gunner” Kelly recruited Sergeant Adelle Fricker to act as Ryan’s date in an elaborate trap.

Hurley and Fricker waited at the hospital gates for their “dates” while plainclothes police disguised as couples, hospital staff and passers-by surrounded the area. Snipers were also positioned on top of nearby buildings and in trees. When Ryan and Walker arrived waiting police rushed the car and the 17-day manhunt was over.

After their return to Melbourne the pair went on trial for Hodson’s murder. Despite inconsistencies of evidence and the mysterious disappearance of several key pieces of evidence, including the bullet that actually killed Hodson, Ryan was found guilty of murder on March 30, 1966 and Justice John Starke pronounced the mandatory death sentence. Walker was sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter and was later sentenced to another 12 years for the manslaughter of Henderson. (Walker eventually served 17 years in prison and was released in 1983).

Still distressed over Ryan’s execution, Helmut Lange, the prison guard on duty in Guard Tower 1 during the escape, committed suicide at Pentridge in April 1969.

In 1986 Douglas Pascoe, a former warder on duty in Guard Tower 3 during the escape, confessed on national television to firing at Ryan. Pascoe said his shot could have accidentally killed Hodson. He remained silent at the time fearing he might get into trouble and believing that Ryan’s death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. Pascoe’s silence may have contributed to one of Australia’s worst miscarriages of justice when Ronald Ryan became the last man hanged in Australia.

Despite the questionable circumstances surrounding Ryan’s execution, the emotive calls for a reintroduction of the death penalty in Australia have been balanced by the overseas experience that retained the death penalty.

Since 1973 there have been 123 innocent people released from death row in the US. In one case Earl Washington was within hours of being electrocuted for a crime he had not committed. Washington spent 16 years on death row in Virginia before he was exonerated and freed from prison. In another case, ex-Vietnam veteran Charles Fain was kept on death row in Idaho for 18 years for the rape-murder of a child. DNA testing conclusively established his innocence and he was released in 2001.

Frank Lee Smith was not so lucky. He spent 14 years on Florida’s death row before he was exonerated. He died of a heart attack before he could be released.

The last man freed from death row in the US was John Ballard who spent three years on Florida’s death row. He was exonerated in 2006.

The US does not have a monopoly on these grave travesties of justice relating to the death penalty. In Britain, three men have been posthumously pardoned after their innocence was established beyond all doubt.

Timothy Evans

John Reginald Halliday Christie was a 54-year-old serial murderer and sexual psychopath who murdered at least six women. He also gave evidence at the trial of Timothy Evans, who was executed (later posthumously pardoned) for crimes almost certainly committed by Christie.

In 1949 Christie lived at 10 Rillington Place, London. Timothy Evans, 24, a semi-literate van driver, lived on the top floor with his wife and infant daughter.

Later the bodies of his wife and child were found in the backyard; they had been strangled. Evans made a statement in which he confessed to the killings, but later he accused Christie. Christie, a witness at Evans’ trial at the Old Bailey in 1950, denied any responsibility. Evans was sentenced to death for the murder of his child, and was hanged on March 9, 1950 at Pentonville Prison.

Three years later the bodies of six women were found at 10 Rillington Place. Christie admitted to raping and murdering the women. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Christie was hanged, on the same gallows as Evans had been three years earlier, at Pentonville Prison on July 15, 1953. Among the various revelations at Christie’s trial was his admission that he had also killed Mrs Evans, although he denied having killed the baby.

On 10 February 1965, Chuter Ede (the Home Secretary at the time of Evans’ execution) said that the Evans case showed how a mistake was possible and that one had been made. Evans was granted a posthumous pardon in 1966.

Derek Bentley

Derek Bentley was 19-years-old and Christopher Craig, 16-years, when the pair broke into a London warehouse on November 2, 1952. Craig was armed with a revolver. The two youths were seen entering the premises and police were called.

Detective Sergeant Frederick Fairfax climbed on to the roof, and managed to grab Bentley. Craig shouted defiantly at the detective and Bentley managed to break Fairfax’s grip and is supposed to have shouted “Let him have it Chris”. Craig then fired the gun grazing the police officer’s shoulder. Despite being wounded Fairfax continued after Bentley and managed to arrest him.

Bentley was already in custody when other police officers arrived and went to the roof. Police Constable Sidney George Miles was one of the first and was shot dead by Craig who then leapt from the roof on to the road 30 feet below. He fractured his spine and left wrist but was arrested.

Even if Craig was found guilty of murder he could not be sentenced to death; 16 was below the minimum age of 18 for execution. However, Derek Bentley who was in custody at the time of the shooting, was over 18 years and could be sentenced to death.

It was clear was that Derek Bentley was illiterate and mentally subnormal. He was ill prepared to undergo cross-examination and did not present a “good image” to the jury; not surprising considering his mental age of 11.

The jury took just 75 minutes to find both Craig and Bentley guilty of PC Miles’ murder. Due to his being below 18 at the time of the offence, Craig was sentenced to being detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Bentley was sentenced to death.

Various appeals highlighting the ambiguous evidence, Bentley’s mental age and the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot, were all rejected by the then Home Secretary.

On 28 January 1953, Derek Bentley was hanged at London’s Wandsworth Prison. Christopher Craig served 10 years in prison before being released.

On July 30, 1998 the Court of Appeal overturned the controversial conviction of Derek Bentley. In an unprecedented and damning attack, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, ruled that his predecessor and Bentley’s trial judge, Lord Chief Justice Goddard, had denied Bentley "that fair trial that is the birthright of every British citizen".

In a 52-page judgment, Lord Bingham placed the blame for the miscarriage of justice with Lord Goddard. Describing Lord Goddard as "blatantly prejudiced", Lord Bingham concluded that he had misdirected the jury and that in his summing-up had put unfair pressure on the jury to convict. Bentley received a posthumous pardon.

Mahmood Hussein Mattan

Mahmood Mattan was born in Somalia. He met his wife, Laura, in the late 1940s. Mahmood was a merchant seaman. Laura’s family did not approve of the marriage and due to the amount of racial prejudice they were forced to live in separate houses in the same street in Cardiff.

March 6, 1952 Lily Volpert, 42, was found murdered at her pawnbroker’s shop in Cardiff’s docklands area. Her throat had been cut with a razor and £100 had been stolen. Within hours of the discovery Mahmood Mattan, 28, was arrested by the Cardiff City Police.

The main witness at Mahmood’s 1952 murder trial, Harold Cover, claimed to have seen Mahmood leave Lily Volpert’s premises on the night of the murder. Cover had also been a suspect in the Volpert murder.

After Mahmood Mattan’s defence barrister described him as a semi-civilised savage it was not surprising that the jury decided he was guilty and the judge passed the mandatory sentence of death. Mahmood Mattan’s appeal was dismissed in August 1952, and he became the last person to be hanged at Cardiff Prison September 3, 1952. As with other executed prisoners, his remains were buried within the prison.

Cover’s description of the likely killer also matched another Somali, Tehar Gass. In 1954, Gass was tried for the murder of a wages clerk called Granville Jenkins. Gass was found insane and sent to Broadmoor. After his release he was deported to Somalia.

One of the detectives in the Volpert Case, Detective Inspector Ludon Roberts, was aware that Harold Cover’s description did not match that of Mahmood Mattan, but this fact was not placed before the original trial jury. Gass was interviewed by Cardiff City Police during their investigations. He admitted visiting Lily Volpert’s shop on the day of the murder but the original trial jury was not told of this point either.

In 1996, Mahmood Mattan’s remains were exhumed from Cardiff Prison and re-buried in a Cardiff Cemetery.

February 24, 1998 the London Court of Appeal quashed Mahmood Mattan’s conviction. Lord Justice Rose (Vice-President of the Court of Appeal) said that the case against Mahmood Mattan was "demonstrably flawed". He went on to say that Mahmood Mattan’s death and the length of time taken to dismiss the conviction were matters of profound regret. The other judges sitting with Lord Justice Rose were Mr Justice Holland and Mr Justice Penry-Davey.

Mahmood Hussein Mattan was exonerated and granted a posthumous pardon 46 years after he had been executed.

Proponents of the death penalty sweep aside such travesties of justice as outlined here with the claim “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette” Do 126 human lives, including the questionable circumstances surrounding the Ronald Ryan execution, equate to those palatable omelettes?