Do we really need the death penalty?

After 1861, if a British subject committed piracy, arson, or murder, that individual could have been sentenced to death in the United Kingdom. Public opinion gradually turned against capital punishment when Timothy Evans was hanged in 1950 for killing his wife and baby. It was later uncovered that Reginald Christie was the murderer. By 1965 capital punishment in the UK was abolished.

Harry Lane is Innocent is a scathing account of an innocent man accused of murdering Peggy, a college student in the park on her way home.

Though Harry Lane had the body of a twenty-three year old, his mind was like that of an innocent child. Harry was incapable of murder.

But Douglas Fields was. Fields was an angry young man capable of committing atrocious crimes of violence without a trace of remorse. While drunk one night he saw a young woman pass him along a dark path through Hunter’s Park, in London. Refusing his obnoxious advances angered Fields to a breaking point. After stabbing Peggy to death, Field’s grabbed her purse and escaped.

That’s when Harry Lane showed up to witness a helpless girl stuffed between rows of bushes. Not knowing what else to do, Harry held Peggy in his arms until she died, covering the young man in her blood.

Scaddon’s ninety-five page novella is a scathing account of the death penalty with unforgettable characters and a plot that will keep readers riveted from first to last page.

After reading Harry Lane is Innocent, most readers will question the validity of the death penalty.

Highly recommended.

About the Author

A novella writer from North Wales, UK, J. Scaddon has a background in forensic science and a keen interest in history and the supernatural. He is also the author of The Adventures of Bert, Huey and Titch and Jess & the Goblin World.