Last Brit sentenced to hanging has died and denied killing sister until the end
16.06.2022 - 14:09
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
The last Brit to face being hanged has died - having protested his innocence until the end.
Alan Norton, 79, was sentenced to death by hanging in 1966, after his 10-year-old sister, Joy, was found stabbed to death a year before, in 1965.
He always denied the murder and in 1986, while he was waiting for his date to hang, capital punishment was abolished on the Channel Island of Jersey so his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and Norton ended up serving more than 30 years in prison, reports The Mirror.
Alan's little sister, Joy, was found in a field on the Channel Island with multiple stab wounds and had been sexually assaulted.
Alan says the crime was pinned on him by the local police force and believes the dress that his sister wore at the time could hold clues to who her murderer is.
When he was released, in 1996, Norton launched a tireless campaign to prove his innocence, paying for a polygraph test and campaigning for DNA examination. However, he has now he has passed away without clearing his name.
During his last years, he lived in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and lived next to Lindsay Carline, who spoke about Norton's final days.
He asked Jersey Police to release the dress so he could conduct DNA testing, which wasn't available at the time of his arrest, but authorities say that the dress wasn't retained after the case was closed.
Alan paid for a lie detector test, which he passed, and then later wrote a book about his struggle to clear his name - called Justice Jersey Style: A true story based on the life of Alan William Norton.
Eventually, Alan left Jersey and lived a quiet life in Portsmouth with his dog, Princess, but now he has passed away.
His neighbour from Portsmouth, Lindsay, said: "He wasn't disowned, but