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
- APRIL 2, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
An Australian woman has escaped the death penalty but...
An Australian woman has escaped the death penalty but will spend five years in a Middle East jail after being found guilty on drugs charges
- MARCH 29, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The British-born militant Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was...
The British-born militant Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was charged in Pakistan with the kidnapping and murder of the US journalist Daniel Pearl, told the judge at the closed hearing in court in Karachi that he did not recognise the court, adding: "I request my
- MARCH 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Florida court lifted the death sentence on a 63-year-old...
A Florida court lifted the death sentence on a 63-year-old British businessman, Krishna Maharaj, who has spent 15 years in prison for a double murder that hundreds of supporters are convinced he did not commit
- MARCH 22, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Islamist who confessed...
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British Islamist who confessed to masterminding the kidnapping of American reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan was charged with his murder and faces execution if convicted
- MARCH 17, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
British relatives of the Lockerbie victims said that...
British relatives of the Lockerbie victims said that they believed judges jailed the wrong man
- MARCH 15, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Five Britons accused of bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia...
Five Britons accused of bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia have retracted their confessions
- MARCH 14, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British-Born man was indicted in the US in connection...
A British-Born man was indicted in the US in connection with the kidnapping in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl whose murder was later filmed on video tape
- MARCH 14, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British-Born man was indicted in the US in connection...
A British-Born man was indicted in the US in connection with the kidnapping in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl whose murder was later filmed on video tape
- MARCH 13, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Jamaican Prime Minister P
Jamaican Prime Minister P
- MARCH 12, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Briton Tracy Housel was executed by lethal injection,...
Briton Tracy Housel was executed by lethal injection, prison authorities in Georgia confirmed
- MARCH 12, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Kenny Richey, Jackie Elliot and Krishna Maharaj are...
Kenny Richey, Jackie Elliot and Krishna Maharaj are the three British inmates on death row in the United States
- MARCH 12, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party...
Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over the prospect of British involvement in US military action against Iraq, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw emphasised that no decision had been taken on opening a second front in the War on Terror,
- MARCH 11, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Brushing aside pleas for mercy from the British government,...
Brushing aside pleas for mercy from the British government, European Union and prominent opponents of capital punishment, a Georgia pardons board refused to block the execution of a British man [Tracy Housel] sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a fe
- MARCH 10, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (www
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (www
- MARCH 7, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The mother of a Briton facing execution in America...
The mother of a Briton facing execution in America begged [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair to save him
- MARCH 3, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The Briton awaiting execution by lethal injection in...
The Briton awaiting execution by lethal injection in America expressed his remorse for the murder of a woman 17 years ago and his gratitude to Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and other politicians for their efforts to spare his life
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia is trying seven foreigners accused of...
Saudi Arabia is trying seven foreigners accused of bomb attacks that raised fears of anti-western terror in the kingdom, the interior minister said
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, intervened in the...
UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, intervened in the case of a British murderer on Death Row, Tracy Housel, when he rang the Governor of Georgia and requested a reprieve
- FEBRUARY 26, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Officials in [the US state of ] Georgia are preparing...
Officials in [the US state of ] Georgia are preparing to take the final steps towards executing Briton Tracy Housel
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a British...
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a British newspaper he would agree to allow five British prisoners alleged to have been Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters, to be tried in British courts
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw led condemnation of...
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw led condemnation of Robert Mugabe after the Zimbabwean president's main rival in the forthcoming election was charged with high treason
- FEBRUARY 25, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Briton on death row will learn today if the US Supreme...
A Briton on death row will learn today if the US Supreme Court will give him a final appeal
- FEBRUARY 23, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The execution of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged...
The execution of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, remains the single most glaring miscarriage of British justice in modern times
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the conviction...
The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the conviction of Ruth Ellis to the Court of Appeal
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A Highland community council applied for planning permission...
A Highland community council applied for planning permission to erect a 30ft set of gallows to mark the 250th anniversary of the wrongful hanging of James of the Glen
- FEBRUARY 20, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British crack cocaine addict who murdered two war...
A British crack cocaine addict who murdered two war veterans was given 26 life sentences, after his father gave evidence against him
- FEBRUARY 16, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK home secretary David Blunkett stopped the extradition...
UK home secretary David Blunkett stopped the extradition of an Algerian accused of terrorism
- FEBRUARY 13, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
A British MP has held talks with UK Foreign Secretary...
A British MP has held talks with UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in an attempt to save a British man on Death Row in the US
- FEBRUARY 9, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain,...
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, is expected to have her conviction reduced to manslaughter
- FEBRUARY 6, 2002United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw wrote to the Governor...
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw wrote to the Governor of Georgia [Roy Barnes] urging him to commute the death sentence passed on a British man to imprisonment, [Prime Minister ] Tony Blair disclosed