The last people were put to death on Merseyside almost 60 years ago.
Now a category B/C men's prison, HM Prison Liverpool, also known as Walton Prison, was once the place where criminals were sent to the gallows for their despicable crimes. Constructed between 1848 and 1855, the prison, formerly known as Walton Gaol, took over from the Kirkdale House of Correction as the main centre of execution for Liverpool.
Everyone executed at Walton was hanged for murder - which saw an executioner place a white hood over the head of the condemned, followed by the noose, and the convicted killer ‘dropped’ as the hangman pulled the lever which released the trap doors. Here, we take a look back at Merseyside's last man and woman to be executed - and the crimes that sealed their fate.
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The hangings of Allen, 21, from Wallasey, and Evans, 24, from Maryport, now Cumbria, took place simultaneously – at Liverpool’s Walton Prison and Strangeways in Manchester. A father of two young sons, Allen struggled to keep down a job and the killing of John Alan West was all part of a bungled burglary by Allen and Evans.
John Alan West, 53, was attacked with an iron bar and stabbed through the heart at his home in Workington in the early hours of April 7, 1964. In 2014, the ECHO reported how a raincoat was left at the victim’s home and in one of the pockets was a medallion inscribed "GO Evans July 1961."
There was also a scrap of paper with the name ‘Norma O’Brien’ and a Liverpool address. Norma, a factory worker, told police that the previous year, while staying with her sister and brother-in-law in Preston, she met a man called ‘Ginger’ Owen Evans who had been wearing the medallion. She also had his address.
Evans lodged with Allen and his wife in Preston, and both men – who went on to blame each other – were arrested. While Evans blamed Allen for beating West, he admitted stealing a watch. Allen said they had stolen a car in Preston and driven over to West’s house so Evans could borrow some money from his former work mate.
The men were tried at Manchester Crown Court in July 1964 and after hearing seven days of evidence - the jury took three hours to find them both guilty of murder.
Allen was hanged at Walton by executioner Robert Leslie Stewart and Evans by hangman Harry Allen at Strangeways. The death penalty was abolished 15 months after they were executed.
The last female killer to be hanged in Liverpool was Margaret Walber, 53, who was executed by James Billington at Walton jail on April 2, 1894, for the murder of her husband John Walber, 55.
They couple been married for just six years - but the last four months of their marriage took a fateful turn as Margaret decided to take revenge on John after finding out he had cheated on her with a previous lover.
The couple, who lived on Gildart Street in Liverpool, were reportedly both alcoholics and lived in an unhappy relationship. Before they met, John had lived with a woman named Ann Connolly, who he went to visit when hearing she moved into the area on Oakes Street.
He is said to have told Margaret that he was heading for a drink, but she followed him to Anne’s new house and a fight broke out between them. That night after John had passed out due to drinking, Margaret dragged him up the stairs to the attic bedroom and stripped him naked before chaining him to the wall and padlocking the door shut, where she kept and violently abused him for four months.
Margaret drunkenly beat John Walber to death with a chamber pot and lamp and performed the fatal blow to his head with the heavy chain - one she had kept him locked up with - on November 16, 1893. Margaret tried to blame her son for John’s murder but still confessed that she hit him over the head with the chain, as she was angry with John for finding trousers to wear.
She went to trial on March 14, 1894, at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool where a Mary Vouse and her boyfriend James Pearson testified against Margaret.
There was also forensic evidence of John’s blood found on her clothes and after one day, Margaret was found guilty by the jury and was sentenced to death by hanging.
She was taken to Walton Prison where she was executed by James Billington at 8am on April 2.
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