Amateur forensics

[davhill]

Here's an interesting one, on an unusual subject for a change.
Lets see if anyone's good at the silent witness stuff.



This chap suffered death by hanging in the first third of the nineteenth century.

Just one simple question: was the executioner any good?

[threespires]

Did he die by strangulation rather than a broken neck?

[Cold]

He doesn't look particularly healthy now, so at some point the job was a goodun'.

[mike74]

The apparent lack of breaks to the neck vertebrae and square hole in his skull suggests he had to be finished off with a lump hammer?

[kowalski655]

His head has popped up like a"Rock 'em,sock 'em" robot!

[C&C]

mike74 said:

The apparent lack of breaks to the neck vertebrae and square hole in his skull suggests he had to be finished off with a lump hammer?

Looks like that was followed up with a circular saw to take the top of his head off for good measure.

[steveatesh]

[quote=C&C]

mike74 said:

The apparent lack of breaks to the neck vertebrae and square hole in his skull suggests he had to be finished off with a lump hammer?

Looks like that was followed up with a circular saw to take the top of his head off for good measure.

And he’s been flayed, or he was on an extreme Atkin diet.

How we doing so far OP?

[Filton-flyer]

Can't help thinking though, it still looks like he's smiling!

[SlimRick]

davhill said:

Just one simple question: was the executioner any good?

"Long drop" hanging resulted in almost instant death as it broke the neck
"Standard drop" hanging was a bit nastier as it killed by strangulation - death could take several minutes. I'm guessing standard drop was the selected method here.

[J4CKO]

That is self inflicted,

"If I put a scart socket on my head I can video my dreams",

We have all done it..

[Tango13]

I have a book somewhere about Alfred Pierrepoint the former chief executioner, it contains a chart of the 'drop' required depending on the weight of the guilty party.

[Riley Blue]

Tango13 said:

I have a book somewhere about Alfred Pierrepoint the former chief executioner, it contains a chart of the 'drop' required depending on the weight of the guilty party.

is that from the Ladybird books for adults series?

[arguti]

A proper "hangman's" fracture would involve both pedicles of C2 vertebra being fractured - certainly the left pedicle looks intact from the photo (can't see the right) and as someone has pointed out, the nice penetrating skull fracture by a pick axe or similar looks like likely cause of death.

[droopsnoot]

He was clearly having an affair with an illegal immigrant who was working here without a visa, while running a human trafficking business on the side. You can tell from his shoulder blade.

[SCEtoAUX]

It's a skull.

[Sterillium]

No. The executioner didn't do his sums correctly which is why the neck isn't broken.

[GOG440]

davhill said:

Here's an interesting one, on an unusual subject for a change.
Lets see if anyone's good at the silent witness stuff.



This chap suffered death by hanging in the first third of the nineteenth century.

Just one simple question: was the executioner any good?

I would have said not
I cant see any sign of a c1/c2 fracture which is how you are supposed to die from hanging, I would guess that the prisoner was slowly strangled

[singlecoil]

Long drop hanging didn't get going until the second half of the 19th century. So the hangman in this case did a satiisfactory job according to the standards of his time.

[Mr.Chips]

Some years ago, I remember reading an article which stated that the last few hangmen employed in this country would be sacked, if the post-mortem proved that the convict did not die instantly, due to a broken neck. My late Uncle used to drink in the pub owned by Albert Pierrpointe, if I remember correctly, it was called, Help the poor struggler! He also had a sign near the beer pumps which said, “No hanging around the bar!”
There is a good film/dvd/Blu-ray about Pierrpointe, starring Timothy Spall.
Finally, I understand that when Saddam Hussein’s henchmen we’re being hanged, someone either miscalculated the length of the drop or didn’t stretch the rope properly before a hanging, resulting in the convict/victim being decapitated when the execution took place.
All very gruesome, but quite fascinating.

[singlecoil]

Mr.Chips said:

Some years ago, I remember reading an article which stated that the last few hangmen employed in this country would be sacked, if the post-mortem proved that the convict did not die instantly, due to a broken neck. My late Uncle used to drink in the pub owned by Albert Pierrpointe, if I remember correctly, it was called, Help the poor struggler! He also had a sign near the beer pumps which said, “No hanging around the bar!”
There is a good film/dvd/Blu-ray about Pierrepointe, starring Timothy Spall.
Finally, I understand that when Saddam Hussein’s henchmen we’re being hanged, someone either miscalculated the length of the drop or didn’t stretch the rope properly before a hanging, resulting in the convict/victim being decapitated when the execution took place.
All very gruesome, but quite fascinating.

There was such a film, but I wouldn't call it a good one. The title was the least of its inaccuracies.