Lesley Whittle - I For One Shall NEVER Forget.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2078202/If-youre-hanging-think-poor-Lesley.html

Having a rarely used death penalty makes a certain sense albeit only to a limited degree. There will always be those killers of such naked evil for whom no other disposal than loss of their own life could possibly be appropriate.
Having no death penalty 'as a principle' means that when such times inevitably arrive, you have no idea what to do with them. Donald Neilson was one such.
I may shock some readers when I say that if they had been unable to find an executioner in his case, I would have - admittedly with some degree of reluctance - volunteered for the task as I am extremely keen on justice, The Scriptures and the best interests of society.

In the 20th Century up to 1964, of all people sentenced to death in the UK - only one in 16 actually hanged. Executions were relatively few but the loss of their deterrent effect from 1965 onwards coincided with a massive rise in homicide rates as innocent people like Lesley paid the price for 'the finer feelings' of our abolitionists. The numbers of those who have died unnecessarily at the hands of murderers who felt no need for restraint, runs well into five figures.
It is also worthy of remembrance that modern medicine has saved countless lives of people attacked who would have died pre-1965. This clearly means that our huge homicide figures today conceal the true numbers of murderous attacks.