John Wilson Vickers (died July 23, 1957) was a criminal from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

who became the first person to be executed under the terms of the Homicide Act 1957. He had been convicted of the fatal bludgeoning of an elderly woman named Jane Duckett during a robbery in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

. Vickers' appeal on the grounds that he had not intended to kill Duckett has become a leading case on the degree of malice needed to prove murder in English law. Vickers was born in the town of Penrith, Cumbria. He had been a career thief from the age of eleven and was known to the police. On either the fifteenth or fourteenth of April 1957, Vickers broke into the cellar of a shop in Carlisle owned by 72-year-old Jane Duckett, intending to steal money. Duckett interrupted Vickers during the robbery, prompting Vickers to violently beat her before fleeing without taking anything. Duckett later died of her injuries; her body was discovered when neighbours alerted the police that her shop had not opened that day. Within several days, Vickers was identified by several scratches left on his face during his struggle with Duckett and charged with

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

. Although the

felony murder rule The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

had been abolished by the Homicide Act 1957, the prosecution argued that "if a man of 22 kicks and punches an old lady of 72 he intends to cause her

grievous bodily harm Grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The ...

. If you are satisfied that Vickers did this, then he murdered her during the commission of a theft." Vickers was convicted and sentenced to death. He appealed his conviction, arguing that there was no " malice aforethought" in the killing, but the Court of Appeal rejected his arguments. According to Lord Goddard, " alice aforethoughthas always been defined in English law as either an express intention to kill...or implied where, by a voluntary act, the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm to the victim, and the victim died as the result." Vickers was executed by Harry Allen at HM Prison Durham on July 23, 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers (criminal), John People from Cumbria 1957 deaths 1957 in England People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging 20th-century executions of British people People convicted of murder by England and Wales History of Cumbria 20th-century English criminals 20th-century executions by England and Wales English criminal case law English people convicted of murder British people executed for murder 1957 in British law 1957 murders in the United Kingdom