United Kingdom
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 abolished...
- News items in the archive
- 423
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
United Kingdom is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 423 news items on United Kingdom, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- AUGUST 16, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A man accused of shooting dead and butchering two Mormon...
A man accused of shooting dead and butchering two Mormon missionaries should be extradited to Texas to face murder charges, a London court ruled
- AUGUST 16, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A man accused of shooting dead and butchering two Mormon...
A man accused of shooting dead and butchering two Mormon missionaries should be extradited to Texas to face murder charges, a London court ruled
- JULY 29, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The mother of a man killed by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia...
The mother of a man killed by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia asked for clemency towards the Scottish man convicted of murdering him
- JULY 24, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
In the UK the 74-year-old case of William Knighton,...
In the UK the 74-year-old case of William Knighton, a Derbyshire miner hanged at 22 for cutting his mother's throat at their Ilkeston home, is going to the Court of Appeal
- JULY 24, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Scot who faces execution in Saudi Arabia appealed...
A Scot who faces execution in Saudi Arabia appealed against the sentence, claiming his televised confession was beaten out of him by officials
- JULY 23, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Lawyers for the five Britons held in connection with...
Lawyers for the five Britons held in connection with anti-western bombings in Saudi Arabia lodged defence submissions with the supreme court in the kingdom
- JULY 16, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The UK Foreign Office said that although it welcomed...
The UK Foreign Office said that although it welcomed the verdict on Omar Sheikh, Britain was opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances
- JULY 11, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Britain said it had agreed to send a man to the United...
Britain said it had agreed to send a man to the United States to face a murder trial after obtaining assurances he would not face death penalty
- JULY 11, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Britain said it had agreed to send a man to the United...
Britain said it had agreed to send a man to the United States to face a murder trial after obtaining assurances he would not face death penalty
- JULY 8, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Three men who pulverised a security guard's face in...
Three men who pulverised a security guard's face in a "sadistic and savage" attack were given life sentences for a murder that a senior judge said was like no case he had ever experienced before
- JULY 4, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Britain's highest court has rejected a bid by relatives...
Britain's highest court has rejected a bid by relatives of James Hanratty, one of the last men hanged in Britain, to clear his name 40 years after he was executed for murder
- JUNE 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A UK MP representing Knowsley South, Eddie O'Hara,...
A UK MP representing Knowsley South, Eddie O'Hara, urged US President George Bush to scrap the death penalty
- JUNE 13, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been asked to step in...
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been asked to step in to save death row Scot Kenny Richey from execution
- MAY 10, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A 53-year-old woman English woman from Chelmsford has...
A 53-year-old woman English woman from Chelmsford has met a 28-year-old killer on Ohio's death row
- MAY 10, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Britain's Court of Appeal dismissed a bid to clear...
Britain's Court of Appeal dismissed a bid to clear the name of James Hanratty, one of the last men hanged in Britain, saying 40 years after his execution that DNA evidence had proven his guilt
- MAY 3, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The United Kingdom signed Protocol 13 to the European...
The United Kingdom signed Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which ensures the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances
- MAY 2, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty will not be used in Britain, even...
The death penalty will not be used in Britain, even in time of war, under the terms of an international agreement signed by the Government
- APRIL 30, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A human rights group criticised Saudi Arabia's "secretive"...
A human rights group criticised Saudi Arabia's "secretive" judicial system following confusion over the sentencing of seven Westerners on trial for alleged involvement in a bombing campaign in the kingdom
- APRIL 28, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
International human rights groups and British MPs expressed...
International human rights groups and British MPs expressed outrage after two Britons accused of masterminding a bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia were secretly given lengthy jail sentences
- APRIL 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Labour MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] expressed...
A Labour MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] expressed "deep concern" at reports that a Scot had been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in a bombing campaign
- APRIL 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Britain declined to comment on a report that two Britons...
Britain declined to comment on a report that two Britons had been secretly sentenced to 18 years in jail for alleged involvement in a fatal bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia
- APRIL 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Briton faces beheading in Saudi Arabia after he admitted...
A Briton faces beheading in Saudi Arabia after he admitted planting a car bomb which killed a fellow expatriate
- APRIL 25, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
United Kingdom was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution...
United Kingdom was a cosponsor and voted for the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 22, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British-born Islamic militant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh,...
A British-born Islamic militant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, and three co-defendants pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and murder earlier this year of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl as a Pakistani court began hearing the trial
- APRIL 9, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
America asked the UK for the extradition of a gun enthusiast...
America asked the UK for the extradition of a gun enthusiast who moved to Britain in 1991
- APRIL 9, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British businessman who ran an illicit drinking club...
A British businessman who ran an illicit drinking club in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to 800 lashes in a secret trial
- APRIL 9, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
America asked the UK for the extradition of a gun enthusiast...
America asked the UK for the extradition of a gun enthusiast who moved to Britain in 1991
- APRIL 6, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Pakistani President Gen
Pakistani President Gen
- APRIL 5, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The trial of British born Omar Saeed Sheikh and three...
The trial of British born Omar Saeed Sheikh and three alleged accomplices accused of murdering the American reporter Daniel Pearl opened in Karachi amid tight security but was adjourned after just one hour
- APRIL 4, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistani High Court rejected an appeal for an open...
A Pakistani High Court rejected an appeal for an open court trial of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born Islamic militant charged with the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl