Capital punishment in the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man formally abolished capital punishment in 1993,[1] but in practice had not used it for many decades. The Isle of Man is a British Crown dependency, but not part of the United Kingdom (which had effectively abolished capital punishment in 1965).

The last person to be actually hanged on the Isle of Man was John Kewish, at Castletown in 1872. No hanging had taken place on the island during the prior three decades.[2] Nevertheless, capital punishment was not abolished by Tynwald (the island's parliament) until 1993. Five persons were sentenced to death (for murder) on the Isle of Man between 1973 and 1992, although all sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom using the Crown's Prerogative of Mercy.

The last person to be sentenced to death on the Isle of Man (and anywhere in the British Isles) was Anthony Teare, at the Court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas, in 1992 (he was subsequently retried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994).[3] The case was heard before the Second Deemster of the Isle of Man, Henry Callow. Deemster Callow thus became the last judge to pass a death sentence (and wear a black cap whilst so doing) in the British Isles.