Summary of:
New doubts cast on 1952 hanging – Widow seeks posthumous pardon
The Guardian, Saturday, February 21, 1998
New Evidence Could Overturn 1952 Hanging Conviction
Mahmood Mattan, a Somali sailor hanged in 1952 for the murder of Lily Volpert in Cardiff, may have been wrongfully convicted. His widow, Laura Mattan, is campaigning for a posthumous pardon, supported by a review from the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Mattan’s trial was plagued by racial prejudice. It lasted just three days, with the jury deliberating for 90 minutes before reaching a guilty verdict. He was executed seven weeks later without being granted an appeal. His lawyer’s derogatory description of him as “a semi-civilised savage” reflected the deep racism of the time, further isolating his Welsh wife, who was ostracised for their marriage.
New evidence uncovered by Mattan’s family solicitors points to another Somali sailor, Tahir Gass, as a potential suspect. Police records indicate Gass was initially investigated but left the country soon after. The jury was unaware of his involvement. Gass later returned to the UK and was convicted of a violent murder in 1954, heightening concerns over Mattan’s trial and execution.
Laura Mattan, now battling cancer, remains determined to clear her husband’s name, with hopes that the case will be reopened in the Court of Appeal.
Additional Sources:
- Mahmood Hussein Mattan – Wikipedia
Mahmood Mattan’s wrongful conviction was eventually overturned. In 1998, the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction, acknowledging the significant flaws in the original prosecution. This decision marked the first time the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred a case to the Court of Appeal. Following this, Mattan’s family was awarded £725,000 in compensation, the first such award for a family of a wrongfully hanged individual. - South Wales Police apology 70 years after hanging injustice – BBC
The family of a father who was wrongly convicted of murder have been given a police apology 70 years after he was executed in a British prison. Mahmood Mattan, a British Somali and former seaman, was hanged in 1952 after he was convicted of killing shopkeeper Lily Volpert in her store in Cardiff. - Booker Prize: Novel inspired by last hanging at Cardiff prison
In September 1952, the last man to be hanged at Cardiff went to the gallows. Mahmood Mattan was wrongly found guilty of the murder of shopkeeper Lily Volpert in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay.
It was to prove one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history and went some way to hastening the abolition of capital punishment in the UK.
