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Michael
John DAVIES
Classification:
Homicide
Characteristics: Member
of a gang known as 'The Plough Boys'
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
July 2, 1953
Date of birth: 1933
Victim profile: John
Beckley, 17
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to death in 1953. Commuted
to life imprisonment. Released
after serving seven years
A
20-year-old labourer found guilty of stabbing a man in a gang-fight in
1953. Davies was a member of a gang known as 'The Plough Boys'. It was
on the evening of 2nd July 1953 the gang, eight to ten strong, were out
looking for trouble. They saw and attacked four youths on Clapham
Common. The fight took place not far from the road and was actually
witnessed by a member of the public who was passing on the bus at the
time. When the fight was over 17 year old John Beckley, was found lying
on the ground dying of stab wounds.
Six
members of the gang were charged with Beckley's murder. At their trial
in October 1953, four were acquitted and a fifth found not guilty of
murder though all five received prison sentences of between six and nine
months for common assault. Although none of the youths identified
Davies, a passenger on a bus that was passing at the time of the fight
picked him out and he was subsequently found guilty and was condemned to
death.
For three
months he sat in the condemned cell waiting for the sentence to be
carried out before being reprieved. His sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment and he was released after serving seven years. He never
admitted his guilt and has always protested his innocence. His
conviction was based entirely on the witness statement from the person
on the bus who had identified him.
Real-Crime.co.uk
Michael John Davies
Davies was
a twenty-year-old labourer from Turret Grove, Clapham, who was found
guilty of stabbing a youth in a gang-fight in 1953. Coleman, a sixteen-year-old
shop assistant of Union Street, Clapham was also charged but found not
guilty. Both were members of a gang known as the 'Plough Boys'.
It was the evening of 2nd July 1953
and the four youths who were blocking the path on Clapham Common did not
know what they were starting when they refused to move to let a fifteen-year-old
lad and his girlfriend through. The youngster went home and related the
tale and soon an eight-strong mob was heading for the Common. All four
of the offending youths ran away but not before one had been stabbed in
the shoulder. Two of the others managed to make it on to a bus passing
at the edge of the Common. But they were not to get away so easily as
the bus slowed to a crawl in the traffic. The pursuers jumped aboard the
bus at the next stop, dragged the two youths off and set about tham on
the pavement. Within seconds blood was flowing. One of the attacked
youths managed to escape, but not before he had been stabbed in the
stomach. John Ernest Beckley, of Amelia Street, Walworth, and just
sixteen years old, was not so lucky. He received six stab wounds and lay
dying.
Six members of the gang were charged
with Beckley's murder. At their trial in October 1953, no evidence was
offered by the prosecution for four of the accused, though all four plus
Coleman received prison sentences of between six and nine months for
common assault. Although none of the youths identified Davies, a
passenger on the bus picked him out and he was subsequently found guilty
and was condemned to death.
Davies spent three months in the
condemned cell before being reprieved. His sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment and he was released with a free pardon after serving seven
years.
