Torture, treachery and the Tower of London

William of Normandy erected the White Tower after the battle of Hastings in 1066 as a demonstrative act of power over his newly conquered country. Since its original construction, the tower has been extended and adapted for many purposes including: a state prison, an armoury, a mint, a menagerie and a home for the crown jewels. But it is the tower's use as a prison with the grim scenes of torture and death that capture the imagination of the hundreds of thousands who visit it each year.

The tower's most famous execution took place on 19 May 1536 when a French swordsman held up the severed head of Anne Boleyn, with her eyes still flickering and lips reciting a dying prayer. It is said that the headless ghost of this unfortunate queen still haunts the corridors of the White Tower.

Five years later, the 68-year-old mother of Cardinal Pole (leader of the opposition movement against Henry VIII's break from Rome) was dragged to the scaffold kicking and screaming. She put up such resistance that it took the blood-drenched axeman several attempts to behead her, confuting the assertion that beheading is a swift and relatively painless mode of execution.

Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey and the Earl of Essex were also put to death by the axe and state prisoners or people of noble birth continued to be beheaded on Tower Hill throughout the 17th and 18th centuries until the gruesome practice ceased in 1747. Nearly 200 years later, the last execution at the tower took place on 15 August 1941.

Recent enemies of the state

The fortress was used as a place to

incarcerate espionage prisoners during the First and Second World Wars, the most famous of whom was the disgraced knight, Roger Casement.

Casement, a British subject, was knighted in 1911 for his work in the Congo exposing the mistreatment of the Congolese people at the hands of their cruel Belgium rulers.

As an Irish Republican, he was stripped of his British honours during the Great War when he tried to persuade Irish soldiers interned in Germany to join an Irish brigade and assist Germany to fight against England. At the time of the Easter Uprising, Casement sailed to Ireland on a German U-boat and was subsequently arrested as one of a party carrying arms and ammunition, which, it was alleged, were supplied to Irishmen and used on behalf of Germany in the prosecution of the war. Casement was imprisoned in the tower and executed for treason on 3 August 1916. He was put to death at Pentonville Prison, but 11 First World War spies were actually executed within the grounds of the tower.

The Second World War and the Treachery Act

The Treason Acts apply to all British subjects, wherever they may be, and also '“ by reason of the doctrine of allegiance '“ to aliens resident in the realm (see 'Cross country' 155/20, 24 May 2011). However, parliament realised that our archaic treason laws did not apply to aliens who had come to this country in a clandestine way.

Furthermore, the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill introduced at the outbreak of WWII omitted the death penalty for acts done with intent to assist the enemy.

The Treachery Act 1940 was passed to overcome all of the abovementioned deficiencies the same month Winston Churchill became prime minister and

Germany invaded France. The main provisions of the Act, contained in section 1, made the death penalty available in certain grave cases of espionage and sabotage '“ to ensure that all classes of enemy alien could be put to death when entering Britain for a hostile purpose.

Our first uninvited guest was deputy fuhrer, Rudolf Hess, who landed by parachute on 10 May 1941 with the hope of sealing peace between the Third Reich and Great Britain. As a prisoner of war, Churchill immediately ordered Hess to be sent to the Tower of London and there he remained until 20 May 1941. Instead of facing a firing squad, Hess remained in this country as an enemy of the state for the whole duration of the war until he was despatched to Nuremburg to face trial for war crimes.

The final blood was spilled at the Bloody Tower within a few months after Rudolf Hess had left. Josef Jakobs, an officer in the intelligence section of the German General Staff, was captured after parachuting into England. He was conveyed to Scotland Yard and charged under section 1 of the Treachery Act 1940. After being found guilty he was sentenced to death on 15 August 1941 at 7.15am. Jakobs had injured his leg so had to be seated when placed before the firing squad. A white lint target was pinned to the prisoner's chest then eight men from the Scots Guards took aim and fired. This was the last execution to take place at the tower ending 900 years of death and suffering.

The 19th century historian, Thomas Babington Macaulay, succinctly describes our ancient London landmark so well: 'In truth there is no sadder spot on the earth.'