Susan Newell (1893 – 10 October 1923) was the last woman to be hanged as
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. She was arrested after acting suspiciously and the discovery of the body of a 13-year-old
newspaper boy, John Johnston. Although there were no witness accounts of him being killed, circumstantial evidence was presented at her trial. She was found guilty of his murder, a plea of insanity was rejected, and she was sentenced to death.
Background
Susan McAllister or Newell was from a poor background. She married and had a daughter, Janet McLeod, but was widowed when her husband was killed in World War I. By 1923 she had remarried, to John Newell, an ex-serviceman, now working as a
Glasgow subway
The Glasgow Subway is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the fourth-oldest underground rail transit system in Europe after the London Underground, Liverpool's Mersey Railway and the Budapes ...
worker. The three lived in a rented room in Newlands Street,
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...
.
John Johnston had left his house on the afternoon of 20 June and had not returned. Another boy had met him at 6PM and given him nine papers to sell. The following day Newell and her daughter set off on foot with an unwieldy bundle carried on a Go-Cart. While walking out of Coatbridge on the Glasgow Road, a truck driver offered them a lift. He took them as far as the east end of Glasgow and dropped them off on
Duke Street. Locals were suspicious of Newell and the police were called. Newell was followed as she went into a back court and emerged without the bundle. She was apprehended and the boy's body was discovered. On 22 June a
post-mortem examination
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...
was carried out at Glasgow Central Police Mortuary. Johnson died by
strangulation
Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...
.
On the same day John Newell presented himself to a police station in Haddington. The truck driver came forward as a witness. On 26 June Newell and her husband appeared at Airdrie
Sheriff court where they were both accused of murder; they made no plea and were returned to prison.
Trial
On 8 September 1923 Newell and her husband appeared at the
Glasgow Sheriff Court
Glasgow Sheriff Court is a sheriff court in the Gorbals ( Laurieston) area of Glasgow, within the sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin. It is reputedly the busiest court in Europe.
History
The new court was commissioned to replace the Old Sh ...
and both pled not guilty, while he also lodged a special defence of
alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
Newell and her husband were both put on trial and the case was heard by
Lord Alness
Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness, (28 May 1868 – 6 October 1955), was a Scottish lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He served as Secretary for Scotland between 1916 and 1922 in David Lloyd George's coalition government and as Lord Justice ...
at the
High Court in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
and the case began on 18 September. There were 70 witnesses cited and 40 gave evidence on the first day of the trial.
Her daughter Janet testified against her, describing how the body of the paperboy had been wheeled through the streets on a
pram.
John Newell could prove he was at his brother's funeral at the time of the murder.
On the second day of the trial, the charge against her husband was withdrawn. Although it had been expected to last several days, the trial concluded on the afternoon of the second day.
Her defence put forward a
plea of insanity
The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to an episodic psychiatric disease at the time of the ...
but this was rejected. The jury returned after 35 minutes and delivered a majority verdict, with one
juror
A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...
against. However, the foreman indicated that the jury were unanimous in strongly recommending mercy.
She was sentenced to death and the date of execution set for 10 October.
Petition
A petition was put forth to the
Secretary of State for Scotland
The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...
pleading that the sentence be reduced to penal servitude because of her gender and the fact that she was destitute, and husband had abandoned her and was left homeless and penniless. The Secretary,
Viscount Novar, rejected that and stated that he would not interfere with the law.
Execution
Newell was executed on 10 October 1923 at Duke Street Prison,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
There had not been an execution of a woman in Glasgow in the seventy years preceding this.
Newell was the last woman in Scotland to be executed.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Susan
British female murderers
Scottish murderers of children
1893 births
1923 deaths
Executed Scottish people
People executed by Scotland by hanging
People convicted of murder by Scotland
1923 crimes in the United Kingdom
People from Oban
Scottish Travellers
20th-century executions by Scotland
Executed Scottish women
20th-century Scottish criminals
History of Glasgow
1923 murders in the United Kingdom
Incidents of violence against boys