The murder of three on-duty police officers in Shepherd's Bush, London in 1966 was one of the most notorious crimes of the decade. The killer, a hardened bank robber called Harry Roberts, would have hanged had capital punishment not been suspended only a few months before his rampage. Not until 1969 was the death penalty permanently abolished by Parliament, to be replaced by a mandatory life sentence that was intended to produce the same finality.

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