Execution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain by Simon Webb Page A

for spying. When war broke out between Germany and Britain, in the summer of 1914, Carl Lody was a tour guide in Hamburg. He had trained as a sailor, but had been forced to give up a maritime career due to ill health. Crucially, he had at one time married an American and lived in the United States. As a result, he spoke flawless English with an American accent. As soon as England declared war on Germany, Lody volunteered to undertake espionage activities in this country. He travelled to Edinburgh, via neutral Norway, and booked into a hotel. He then visited the Firth of Forth each day and made notes on the shipping there. One of his first coded telegrams conveyed to his superiors in Germany that Royal Navy warships were due to leave port in the next day or two and as a result, a German submarine was waiting for them.
    Lody became careless though and stopped encrypting his telegrams and letters. A supposed American, writing letters in German, was bound to attract attention and in October he was arrested. His trial was held in public, which was unusual for such cases. The verdict was never in doubt and on 2 November 1914, Carl Lody was sentenced to death. He had excited much admiration during his trial, for both his calm demeanour and also his steadfast patriotism in refusing to name his superior officers.
    When he was led from his cell to face the firing quad on 6 November, Lody turned to the officer who was to escort him and enquired politely, ‘I suppose that you will not care to shake hands with a German spy?’ The officer put out his hand at once and replied, ‘No, but I will shake hands with a brave man.’
    In 1930, the law was changed and soldiers no longer faced the firing squad for desertion, cowardice, sleeping at their post and so on. It was, however, retained for mutiny and a few other military offences in wartime. Many senior officers campaigned for the return of the death penalty for desertion during the Second World War. In 1942, when Rommel’s armour was sweeping through North Africa, the British were retreating rapidly. Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander in Chief in the Middle East, sent a telegram to the War Office asking as a matter of urgency that the death penalty for desertion be reinstated. At the time, over 120 men were awaiting court-martial for desertion in Egypt, and a staggering 1,700 men had gone missing. So precipitate was the rout of the British forces that the Military Police were forced to open fire on their own troops, in order to halt the fleeing men.
    The War Office refused Auchinleck’s request, but there was one case of soldiers receiving the death penalty, even though they were not shot in the end. The so-called Salerno Mutiny occurred in October 1943. Three hundred men refused to obey orders to march, as they believed that their duty was to wait where they were, and then rejoin their own units. Almost 200 were court-martialled for mutiny. Most were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, but the three sergeants in charge were condemned to death and faced the prospect of being shot. In the end, the sentences were commuted and all the men were freed.
    There were two further executions by firing squad here, after that of Josef Jakobs. Shepton Mallet Prison, in Somerset, is the oldest prison in the United Kingdom. Parts of it date from 1610. From 1889 until 1926, it was the county prison for executions and anybody convicted of murder in Somerset faced the prospect of being hanged at Shepton Mallet. When American forces were stationed here during the Second World War, an Act of Parliament was passed which made it possible for American military justice to be carried out, including the execution of prisoners. This was the Visiting Forces Act of 1942. The Americans were allocated part of Shepton Mallet Prison and were allowed to build a new execution chamber there, which housed a gallows.
    Eighteen executions were carried out at Shepton Mallet during the war. All but two of these were by