17 May 1955 – Leslie Hylton

A minor celebrity hit the gallows today in the mid-‘50s. A pre-war cricketer was hanged in the West Indies after he was found guilty of murder.

Jamaican test cricketer Leslie Hylton was hanged for killing his other half on this day in 1955. Driven by jealous rage after his wife confessed that she’d cheated on him, fast-bowling Hylton turned a gun on his missus and shot her.

Stumped

Surreally, Jamaica’s team captain handled the defence and Hylton said under oath that he had actually been trying to kill himself, but he’d missed!

Swung bowler

Let’s face it, on the strength of that ridiculously ropey defence, he didn’t have a hope in hell of evading the gallows did he? And sure enough Hylton was found guilty after a jury deliberated for a mere hour and a half.

So, here endeth the tale of our z-lister who hanged for his crime of passion in the year he reached his half-century.

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