1953: The Hangman Walked Into Wandsworth... Frankie Fraser Was Waiting UK true crime
Dark County
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Not everyone inside Wandsworth in January 1953 was willing to stand still and watch an innocent boy get walked to a rope. And one man in particular — a slight South London criminal named Frankie Fraser, five feet four inches tall and already carrying a reputation that stretched the length of the British prison estate — would make the only statement available to him in the only language he had.
According to accounts from former inmates who served alongside Fraser, and confirmed by Fraser himself in interviews spanning three decades, what happened inside Wandsworth Prison on the morning of the 28th of January 1953 became the most talked-about act of defiance in British prison history — not because of its scale, and not because it changed the outcome, because it didn't.
Derek Bentley was still hanged that morning. But because one man, with nothing to gain and everything to lose, found the hangman walking through his prison and decided that somebody in that building was going to make their objection known. Fraser called it the best thing he ever did. He never changed that answer. Not once. In sixty years of interviews. This is the story of why.
#uktruecrime #frankiefraser #hmpwandsworth #truegangsterstories
19 Comments
There is no way Faser would have been able to get anywhere near the executioner.
Pierrepoint would have arrived at the prison the previous afternoon, and would not have come into contact with any prisoners, when he observed the condemned prisoner, either on excersise or through the spyhole of the cell all other prisoners would be locked in their cells
Since the abolition of hanging many details about the process have been made public.
The tools of the trade.
The executioner box was sent to the prison where the execution took place from HMP Wandsworth by train.
It contained TWO ropes one new one used previously.
A tape measure (to fix the drop). Leg and arm straps,
A piece of chalk to mark the T on the trapdoor where the prisoner would stand. A white bag (hood) to go over the prisoners head and a roll of thread to tie the rope into a coil so the noose was at shoulder height ready to go over the prisoners head.
The Gallows was next to the condemned cell though the prisoner didn't know that.
Executioner and assistant arrived at the prison the afternoon before the execution.
Hangings took place at either 8am or 9am the prison was locked down until after the execution. NO Inmates would have been out of their cells. The execution suite was cited at the end of a wing consisting of a cell double sized because the inmate WAS ALWAYS accompanied 24hrs a day by a officers. These were drafted in from other jails and worked 8 hour shifts.
There was a toilet washing facilities a visiting room where the inmate had visits behind glass from family and lawyers.
While preparations were made for the execution the inmate was removed from his/her cell on the afternoon before foe exercise or to see the doctor.
Frank Frazer would not have come face to face with Pierrepoint. No inmates would EVER get near the condemned cell.
No doubt Frazer was a 'handful' had his fair share of confrontations with staff and other inmates.
But the alleged assault on Pierrepoint could not have happened!
1953: The Hangman Walked Into Wandsworth... Frankie Fraser Was Waiting UK true crime
Dark County
20,162 views
Not everyone inside Wandsworth in January 1953 was willing to stand still and watch an innocent boy get walked to a rope. And one man in particular — a slight South London criminal named Frankie Fraser, five feet four inches tall and already carrying a reputation that stretched the length of the British prison estate — would make the only statement available to him in the only language he had.
According to accounts from former inmates who served alongside Fraser, and confirmed by Fraser himself in interviews spanning three decades, what happened inside Wandsworth Prison on the morning of the 28th of January 1953 became the most talked-about act of defiance in British prison history — not because of its scale, and not because it changed the outcome, because it didn't.
Derek Bentley was still hanged that morning. But because one man, with nothing to gain and everything to lose, found the hangman walking through his prison and decided that somebody in that building was going to make their objection known. Fraser called it the best thing he ever did. He never changed that answer. Not once. In sixty years of interviews. This is the story of why.
#uktruecrime #frankiefraser #hmpwandsworth #truegangsterstories