When I found out, I would still have loved him, even if he hadn’t by then condemned the death penalty outright.Albert followed his uncle, Tom, and his father, Henry, into the profession. Growing up, Tom and Henry were the only people Albert knew that ever left Yorkshire Albert didn’t want to spend his life working in the mill. He wanted to see more of the world, but he grew up at a time when there weren’t many options. He saw an opportunity and applied for the position of executioner while working as a delivery driver. After a rigorous recruitment process, which included “dummy” hangings, he got the job.Albert and Anne were among the most decent and straightforward people I have ever met. One of my earliest memories was learning their phone number, which I was to call any time, day or night, if I was in trouble They were traditional in their tastes The bungalow was immaculate. The bathroom smelled of Imperial Leather and Old Spice (like Albert) and had a new-fangled electric shower I could use when I’d been in the paddling pool.

There was a pristine front room, usually unheated, only to be used on special occasions.When Albert ran me home in his Ford Cortina at the end of the day, wearing his white leather driving gloves, we’d drop Auntie Anne off at bingo and then we’d sit and chat to my mother. In the summer he would bring roses cut from his garden with the thorns carefully removed, and he’d let me pick the best tomatoes I’ve ever tasted from his greenhouse. My mother would pour him a Stewart crystal tumbler of whisky and then they’d talk.That was when the stories came out. About the other Albert, who had hanged Ruth Ellis, sentenced to death for murdering her boyfriend.

He was often asked what Ruth Ellis’s last words had been; he told my mum that she had said nothing. My mother said the death penalty was wrong for crimes of passion There was no argument. By then Albert believed it was not right for anyone.He resigned from his post as Number One Official Executioner in 1956 over an argument about money. Albert felt he was paid inadequately for the job he had done And he was the best in the business.

Hanging might sound barbaric, but done correctly using the British method, with the rope in exactly the right position and the drop calculated so that the neck breaks instantly, it was humane compared to the alternatives. Albert travelled around the world teaching other executioners his techniques. This saved many from a far more painful end.In retirement, he had come to believe that his former occupation had achieved nothing except revenge. Having spent so much time with condemned men and women, his insight led him to conclude that the death penalty was not the deterrent it was cracked up to be. I also heard him say he felt that executing terrorists would only turn them into martyrs and make matters worse.He had a clear mind, good judgement and bags of common sense.