10th August 1965

Man sentenced to hang for murder

“Anthony Oliver Lynch… was sentenced to death yesterday at a brief sitting of the Jersey full court after pleading Guilty to the murder by stabbing of Madeleine Mabel Fox, aged 26, in Stafford Lane, St Helier, on March 18,” reported The Times on 11 August 1965.

Lynch’s advocate, Terence Sowden, had entered a guilty plea on his client’s behalf on 6 August. This therefore left the court with no choice over the penalty imposed on the 27-year-old Dubliner when he appeared before it on 10 August, since the statutory punishment for murder was death.

On 3 September, the home secretary, Sir Frank Soskice, recommended that his sentence be commuted. The Queen consented, as was customary at the time.

 

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