The Last Hanging in Scotland, 21-Year-Old Henry Burnett

Henry John Burnett, aged 21, became the last person to be executed in Scotland when he was hanged at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen. He had been convicted of the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan, the estranged husband of Burnett’s girlfriend.

Despite pleas for clemency and growing public debate over capital punishment, the sentence was carried out swiftly. Burnett’s execution came just weeks before the last executions in England, and helped galvanize the movement to abolish the death penalty in the UK.