He was only 19.
Five miles away in Glasgow's tough Barlinnie Prison Tony Miller was about to die.
There Britain's Chief Executioner Harry Allen dressed in a smart brown suit covered Miller's head with a black cloth bag and placed a noose around his neck.Tony Miller's final last plaintive words to Yorkshireman Allen were said to be - 'Please, mister!' - before he was left dangling at the end of a rope.The prison authorities reported that Miller had gone to his death with 'composure'.
In a recent interview in the Glasgow Times Murray told readers:"The Miller case took up four months of my life from the day I received a phone call from his father asking me to represent his son. Both boys were regulars at a popular teenage hangout the Cathkin Café on Victoria Road near their homes.But it was also where they hatched an evil plan to attack and rob vulnerable gay men.At that time sexual relationships between males were still against the law.
Len Murray added:"One of my biggest difficulties was telling Tony Miller's parents that their son could hang."Until this case, I had been a supporter of capital punishment like most people."As a result of the Miller case, I became firmly against it"I also think it was inhuman what society did to a 19-year-old boy who'd never previously broken the law in his life."
The evidence against the two youths had been overwhelming with friends telling the court that both had boasted about killing Cremin.Denovan also callously suggested they observe a two-minute silence for him.Murray decided that Miller shouldn't give evidence in his own defence as was his right.The trial judge, Lord Wheatley, ruled Denovan's involvement in the killing was not a capital offence and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment.
Miller's only hope was the public campaign to persuade John Maclay, the Secretary of State for Scotland, to recommend the Royal Prerogative which would have commuted the death sentence to one of life imprisonment. But on December 19, the 30,000-signature petition was rejected. The prisoners who were hanged in Barlinnie are still buried in unmarked graves beneath the prison walls.
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