Today in history On August 15, 1963, Scotland's Last Execution: Henry John Burnett's Fateful Day.

 

On August 15, 1963, Henry John Burnett became the last person to be executed in Scotland, marking the end of an era in the nation’s judicial history. Burnett, a 21-year-old man from Aberdeen, was convicted of murdering Thomas Guyan, the estranged husband of Burnett’s lover, Margaret May. Burnett had been living with Margaret, but she later returned to her husband. In a fit of jealousy and rage, Burnett borrowed a shotgun and went to the couple’s home, where he shot Guyan in the head at close range. The killing was brutal and premeditated, and Burnett made little attempt to deny his actions when arrested shortly afterward. His trial at the High Court in Aberdeen lasted just three days, and the jury took less than 25 minutes to find him guilty of murder.

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Despite his young age and public petitions for clemency, Burnett’s appeal for a reprieve was rejected by the Secretary of State for Scotland. On the morning of August 15, he was executed by hanging at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen, carried out by the well-known British executioner Harry Allen. Burnett’s death marked the last use of capital punishment in Scotland before the country began moving toward abolition. While the death penalty remained legal in the UK for a few more years, public sentiment was increasingly against it, and the execution of such a young man left a lasting impact on the national conscience. Today, Burnett’s case is remembered both for its tragic human elements and as a historical milestone in Scotland’s criminal justice system.