10 November 1960 – Francis Forsyth and Norman Harris
Part of a gang, Francis Forsyth and Norman Harris robbed and kicked a man to death.
In 1960, Forsyth (18) and Harris (23) together with fellow gang members Christopher Louis Darby (23) and Terrence Lutt (17) set upon Allen Jee in an alley in Hounslow. They kicked him unconscious and stripped him of his cash and left him bleeding from head injuries.
Jee had everything to live for. He’d only just got engaged. And he managed to last two days in hospital before his catastrophic injuries got the better of him. Though they denied it, the gang didn’t get away with it. Forsyth’s bloodstained shoes made sure of that.
Both Forsyth and Harris got the death penalty. Lutt was a minor so he only got a prison sentenced because he was too young to be hanged. And Darby had the least involvement so he managed to get life imprisonment. Harris was hanged at 9am on 10 November at Pentonville and Forsyth was hanged at the same time in Wandsworth, and became the last 18-year-old to be hanged in Britain.
Also on this day
10 November 1914 – John Eayres
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December 9 at 2:23 pm
They were acquaintances of mine, Lutt was the instigator and Harris and Darby( a local dandy who always wore a bowler hat) ran off before Frankie started the kicking. They were hanged because they stole ninepence making it a capital offence (murder for theft). Lutt was detained on Her Majesty’s Pleasure and served eight years
September 19 at 1:35 am
I have been interested in this case for some years now. What sort of people were Forsyth and Harris? Harris seemed to have remorse whereas I understood Forsyth to have bragged about the killing. I heard Darby was a beatnick.
November 6 at 11:07 pm
Forsyth was dropped 7′2″ through the trap-doors on the gallows platform within Wandsworth Prison. The executioner was Harry. B. Allen and the assistant executioner was Royston Rickard.
November 10 at 5:45 pm
How tall would Forsyth have been if the drop was 7′2″?
November 10 at 6:26 pm
I have always been interested in this case, especially Francis “Flossie” Forsyth. I would have liked to have contacted people who knew him. I know he was the youngest in his family so his parents have obviously passed on but his girlfriend at the time of his exection 16 year old Margaret Caitlin was expecting his child in January 1961. If anyone knew him personally, I would be grateful to hear from them.
December 27 at 10:05 am
I was slightly aquainted with Flossie. We were in Ardale approved school together around 1957. I can’t tell youy anything about him as I only knew him to say hello to. However, if you check Ardale in North Stifford Essex I’m sure you will find many who knew him well. He was in “Livingstone” house at the home.
January 1 at 9:38 pm
Thank you Peter, I read he was sent to an approved school when he was 14 for stealing stationery or something like that, I will check Ardale out, thank you for your help.
January 2 at 1:21 pm
Robby, Check the UK “friends reunited” If you check Ardale for the years between about 1956- 60 you will probably find a few people that remember him.
Peter
January 3 at 12:56 am
Thanks Peter I will. I want to find out the type of person he was. By all accounts he was quite intelligent and attended Isleworth Grammer School for a while, it seems uncharactersic that he should turn to crime, become a road worker and then commit capital murder. Another strange thing was that on the day he was hanged 10 November 1960, a friend of his 20 year old Victor Terry shot and killed a man in a bank raid near worthing, he was convicted and hanged at Wandsworth on the same gallows on 26 May 1961
January 5 at 9:32 pm
Had no luck with the friends reunited Peter, you had a menu to choose from which included primary and secondary schools but not approved shcools. I typed out Ardale Approved School but the response was that it couldn’t be found.
January 6 at 9:28 am
Hi Robby, it’s definitely there, I’m listed on it myself. Don’t type approved school, just the name (and secondary if you have to). If you have no luck, let me have an email address and I’ll go on the site and try to send you a link or something. Try searching for me (Peter Turner) at Ardale 1957 and see where it takes you.
Peter
January 6 at 2:13 pm
Hello Peter
Thank you for your help and a advice. I just tried to log back in on friends reunited but they are now saying I have to enter a validation code which they say they have sent me and it should be in my emails but it isn’t.
Anyway, my email address is rob.rodway@ntlworld.com I would like to talk to you anyway Peter because I would like to get an idea of what approved schools were like in the late fifties. I was only four years old in 1957
January 6 at 2:30 pm
Peter
I just managed to get back into Friends Reunited and I managed to get Ardale. There were alot of Peter Turners, I found a Peter Turner who attended Ardale in 1959 and now resides in Aurstralia, would that be you?
Robby