Fast, deadly: A hangman's pride

As the second-most prolific and longest-serving member of the Pierrepoint dynasty of chief executioners, Thomas prided himself on his efficiency. His record from cell to gallows was 60 seconds.

But records released yesterday show how the British Government faced a rebellion from prison governors and doctors over concerns that, when still working aged 72, his eyes were failing and that he was so obsessed with speed and efficiency that he nearly sent his assistant through the trap door with the condemned man.

Memos detail how officials agonised over whether to force him into retirement after claims from reports of executions he conducted around the country that he was "past the job".

Pierrepoint was part of a macabre family tradition. He was the brother of Britain's first chief executioner, Henry Pierrepoint, and uncle - as well as tutor - of Albert Pierrepoint, the man who became Britain's most prolific executioner with 435 hangings.

But by the early 1940s, it seems that Thomas, who hanged his first man in 1909, was showing signs of fatigue.

One letter to the Home Office complained that Thomas had "smelled strongly of drink" during two executions at Durham Prison in 1940 and appeared to be chewing "something scented" on a third occasion to conceal the smell of alcohol.

In his memoirs, Albert recalled how his uncle had once told him: "If you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all."

Henry, Albert's father, was sacked in disgrace in 1910 after arriving drunk to conduct an execution.

Another letter detailed how Thomas, who carried out 294 hangings in a 37-year career, had endangered his assistant, whose job it was to check that the condemned's legs were tied.

The memo said: "He obviously regards speed as the hallmark of efficiency and there hardly seems sufficient time for him to ensure that the assistant is clear of the trap.

"This zeal for speed may be related to a desire to show that his ability is unimpaired by advancing years."

But while officials deliberated over whether Thomas should be "offered retirement", he won backing from other senior prison officials for his work, paid at a rate of £15 per hanging, equivalent to £450 ($1325) today.

One governor said: "Despite misgivings, the prison authorities were eventually forced to continue employing Pierrepoint because at the height of World War II they could find no one to replace."

A notice to prison governors issued in 1943, said: "Owing to war-time difficulties of replacements and favourable reports from other prisons, the commissioners are inclined to allow Pierrepoint to continue. Attention should be paid to his technique."

The memos also explain why it was difficult to replace him before his retirement in 1946.

Two applicants were dismissed on the grounds that one "lets his tongue run away from him when in drink" while the other was "a butcher of loose morals" from Fulham.

Another applicant, a police constable named Harry Kirk, was rejected with the following assessment: "He would be equal to the work he applies for ... [but] he appears to have a somewhat morbid interest in the work, aroused through having a friend who carried out many executions in Arabia."

Dynasty

* Thomas Pierrepoint hanged several US soldiers in World War II and was assisted by his nephew Albert.

* Albert hanged Irma Grese, 22, the youngest Nazi concentration camp guard to be executed.

* Thomas' brother Henry was sacked as chief hangman for drunkenness

- INDEPENDENT