§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many years have elapsed since the maximum penalties in force on the statute book for(a) treason and (b) piracy were applied. [4647]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 20 June 1997]: The last execution for the offence of treason was 41 years ago in 1946. In 1945 there were three persons sentenced to death for treason. One of the sentences was commuted to penal servitude. William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) was executed in 1946 for treason. The other offender, Thomas Cooper, who had joined the German army at the age of twenty (his mother was of German origin) was reprieved in 1946 and ended up with a life sentence, of which he served seven years.
Historical records indicate that the last two executions for the offence of piracy took place 167 years ago in 1830.