As many people will be aware, it wasn't so long ago that capital punishment was eradicated in the UK - as many cities used to publicly execute criminals.
With executions banned first for a temporary period in 1965, then permanently in 1969, people may think that the last ever hanging in Scotland's capital would be a distant memory for very few.
However, the final hanging in Edinburgh of a convicted criminal is, perhaps surprisingly, within living memory - June 23, 1954.
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This is the story of the crime behind the final execution in the capital, and how it was handled by the police at the time of the horrific event.
The death of a single mother and one of her children, at the hands of a homeless ex-lover, proved to be the final crime punishable by death.
Elizabeth McGarry was a single parent to two teenagers, George and Jean, whose previous marriage to George Robertson ended due to his violent controlling behaviour.
February 28, 1954 proved to be a fatal night for the small family, after Elizabeth let Robertson back into the home. Jean, a 16-year-old paper mill worker, was the only person to survive the frenzied attack, to which she provided court testimony for.
The young daughter stated she awoke to her father stabbing her brother in the head, and then turning his anger-fuelled attack onto her.
It was noted by Hidden Scotland that her mother, Elizabeth's failed attempt to flee the scene could have been the thing that saved Jane from certain death.
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Robertson ceased his attack on his daughter to capture and kill his former wife, before killing his son George as he also attempted to flee the same as his sister.
Police discovered the crime scene a short while later, after Robertson decided to put his head in the oven after committing the heinous acts.
In court, Robertson pleaded guilty to avoid the public scrutiny that a full trial would inevitably invite, although this was a misguided hope given the brutality of his crimes.
The inevitable penalty – execution by hanging – followed only 15 weeks after the sentence was passed on June 23, 1954. This execution took place at Saughton Prison, and was the final time someone was placed to death in Scotland.
With capital punishment abolished in Scotland less than a decade later, George Robertson earned the unfortunate reputation, not only as a double murderer, but as Edinburgh’s last visitor to the gallows.
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