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Pascoe with the iron bar, leaving the farmer dead with six or seven wounds to the head, a fractured skull, a broken jaw, a severed finger and five chest wounds, including one knife wound to the heart. They searched the house for the money, but came away with only £4 that Pascoe found in a piano, and Whitty's haul of a watch, two boxes of matches and some keys. They split the money and took £2 each, returning to the caravan at Truro. The girls they lived with later testified that Whitty was "grinning all over his face", and that Pascoe was seen wiping blood from Whitty's face. The following day, Pascoe's girlfriend confronted Whitty with a copy of the evening newspaper, which contained details of Rowe's murder. She asked Whitty, "You went to
Constantine. Did you do this?" Whitty replied, "Yes I did." The girl later claimed that Whitty and Pascoe threatened to kill the girls if they told anyone what they knew.
219:, referring to the whereabouts of various sums of money. Having translated the notes, the executors of Rowe's will used them to find a number of caches of money, including in a safe set in concrete, covered by straw in a cowshed; and a large glass jar containing hundreds of banknotes, hidden elsewhere on the property. The full amount that was eventually found was not revealed, but was referred to as "thousands of pounds".
178:, and knew the farmer, William Rowe. Rowe was somewhat reclusive, living in the untidy sitting room of his farmhouse, the four bedrooms unoccupied after his mother and brother had died. Local rumour held that Rowe had a large sum of money concealed on the premises, and he had been the victim of a burglary in 1960, during which £200 and some other items had been stolen.
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On 16 August, a policeman saw Pascoe riding his motorcycle in
Constantine, stopped him and asked him to report for routine questioning at the murder headquarters. Pascoe claimed that he had been in the caravan in Truro at the time of the murder, but when Pascoe admitted knowing Rowe and working for
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Whitty and Pascoe each blamed each other, with Whitty accusing Pascoe of beating Rowe with the iron bar, and then forcing Whitty to use the knife. Whitty admitted stabbing Rowe but stated, "Pascoe made me stick him." Pascoe told the police that Whitty had instigated the attack, admitting only to
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blazer with silver buttons. When they knocked on Rowe's door at around 11.00 pm and the old man opened it, Whitty used this uniform-like clothing to support a story that they had crashed a helicopter nearby, and he asked to use Rowe's telephone. They then attacked Rowe; Whitty with the knife and
299:(assisted by Harry Robinson) at Winchester at 8.00 am on 17 December and was buried in an unmarked grave within the walls of the prison. Among the protestors outside Winchester Prison were Whitty's fiancée, Bridget Hamilton (who collapsed as a clock chimed the execution hour) and a group of
242:. He clarified that Whitty was suffering from a hysterical condition and experienced blackouts. Whitty himself claimed that he had seen "strange and unnatural things", such as doors opening on their own and pictures changing places on walls overnight. He also said he believed in
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When charged and cautioned, Whitty replied, "We are both over twenty-one, so I suppose we can hang?" He subsequently gave a written statement outlining the events on the night of the murder, and his claim that Pascoe had forced him into continuing the attack on Rowe.
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him in the past, the police realised that Pascoe had worked for Rowe at the time of the burglary in 1960. Whitty was then also brought in for questioning. The following day, each man was questioned and told that they were suspected of committing the murder.
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257:, whose father was the owner of the caravan site where Pascoe and Whitty had been living with the three girls. He testified that Whitty was prone to epileptic fits which (Whitty claimed) caused him to be violent.
310:(assisted by Royston Rickard) at exactly the same time. Only two more prisoners were subsequently executed in Britain, in August 1964: Peter Allen (hanged by Stewart) and Gwynne Evans (hanged by Allen), for the
234:, who entered a plea of 'not guilty'. Skelhorn claimed that Whitty had either been acting under the influence of Pascoe, or that Whitty's psychiatric background was such that he may be guilty of
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The jury debated for four and a half hours before returning with guilty verdicts for both Whitty and Pascoe, and they were sentenced to death by the Judge, Mr
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knocking Rowe out with the iron bar. He claimed that Whitty "went mad with the knife", then took the bar from Pascoe and repeatedly struck Rowe with it.
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During 1963, Whitty and 23-year-old Pascoe were living with three young women in a caravan at Kenwyn
Caravan Park, on the outskirts of
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On the night of
Wednesday, 14 August 1963, Whitty and Pascoe travelled to Nanjarrow on Pascoe's motorcycle. They were armed with a
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Assizes, beginning on 29 October, the murder was described as "brutal and savage in the extreme". Whitty was defended by Mr
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At Rowe's farmhouse, police found a small diary in a desk, with descriptive notes written in
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in a
British prison. Whitty had been convicted for his part in the murder of 64-year-old
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417:"These Cornwall men were among the last to be hanged in UK after brutal £4 murder"
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On 23 November, Whitty and Pascoe's appeals were heard and rejected by the
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369:"The last supper of the final condemned man and his companion"
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A key defence witness was 19-year-old student (and future
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and had seen "a figure with wings" on a beach one night.
129:(1941 – 17 December 1963) was, along with his accomplice
371:. This Is Bristol. 17 February 2012. Archived from
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145:farmer William Garfield Rowe on 14 August 1963.
470:People convicted of murder by England and Wales
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460:20th-century executions by England and Wales
317:Pascoe's last moments were the subject of a
351:, "Double Hanging for £4 at Constantine",
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465:20th-century executions of British people
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306:Pascoe was executed at Horfield by
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475:British people executed for murder
355:, Bossiney Books, 1975, pp. 90–100
321:documentary in 2012, presented by
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419:. Cornwall Live. 10 February 2019
395:"Capital Punishments UK – Bodmin"
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397:. www.capitalpunishmentuk.org
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353:Murder in the Westcountry
240:diminished responsibility
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58:17 December 1963 (age 22)
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312:murder of John Alan West
295:Whitty was executed by
34:Whitty after his arrest
149:Murder of William Rowe
297:Robert Leslie Stewart
276:Appeal and execution
77:Execution by hanging
375:on 30 December 2012
73:Cause of death
127:Dennis John Whitty
66:Hampshire, England
266:Winchester Prison
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421:. Retrieved
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399:. Retrieved
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377:. Retrieved
373:the original
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323:Gethin Jones
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288:and then by
286:Henry Brooke
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272:in Bristol.
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253:politician)
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236:manslaughter
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450:1963 deaths
445:1941 births
423:10 February
401:12 February
379:12 February
308:Harry Allen
172:Constantine
439:Categories
349:David Mudd
329:References
168:Ponjeravah
154:Background
54:1963-12-17
290:the Queen
217:Esperanto
176:Falmouth
164:Cornwall
135:executed
87:Executed
301:Quakers
174:, near
143:Cornish
139:hanging
244:ghosts
224:Bodmin
182:Murder
160:Truro
115:Death
425:2019
403:2013
381:2013
48:Died
43:1941
40:Born
319:BBC
137:by
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