User:HLE/sandbox2

Vivian Frederick Teed had been in trouble since the age of 13. One of nine children, he had become known for acts of vandalism and theft and things did not improve once he had joined the R.A.F. Teed had gone absent without leave, attacked a man for which he was given a sentence of three years and upon his release, received a further sentence, this time of two years, for another assault. This was the man who, on November 15th, 1957, decided that he would rob the post office in Fforestfach. Teed thought there would be no one at home but to be on the safe side, knocked on the door to check.

To Teed's surprise, the door was opened by the proprietor, William Williams, known locally as Bill Bankie. Teed pushed Williams back into the post office, struck him with a hammer and leaving the man in a pool of blood, took his keys and searched the premises. He found nothing worth stealing.

Williams's body was found the following day when Margaret John could not gain entry to the post office and looked through the letterbox. The police forced an entry and found the murder weapon and footprints left in the old man's blood.

Ronald Thomas Franklin Williams had known Teed for several months and he reported that in October, Teed had told him that he had 'weighed up' a job at the post office. Furthermore, he had seen Teed on November 15th and Teed confessed that he had done the job and hit the old man, but had left empty handed as he couldn't find the safe keys. Teed was arrested on November 18th.

At first, Teed denied all knowledge of the crime, though eventually he admitted that he had been responsible. Although he had not actually stolen anything, he had entered the post office with the intention of stealing. His crime was therefore committed in the furtherance of theft and the charge was a capital one.

At Teed's trial, the defence tried to suggest that he was suffering from an abnormality of the mind. Doctor Jones said that in his opinion, Teed had a psychopathic personality with aggressive tendencies but Doctor Fenton, who saw Teed in prison, countered that by stating that he believed Teed was perfectly normal.

The jury were out for four and a half hours and twice disagreed on their verdict. Returning to court, the judge informed them that there four possible verdicts: guilty in pursuance of theft, guilty of non-capital murder, guilty of manslaughter, or not guilty. Finally the decided that Teed was guilty of the capital offence.

Teed's appeal was dismissed on April 21st. On May 3rd, the Home Secretary announced that he could find no grounds for a reprieve and two days later, Teed became only the third man to be hanged since the 1957 Homicide Act had been passed.